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FORTY    IMMORTALS 

Of  WORCESTER  & 

ITS    COUNTY 


A  brief  Account  of  those  Natives  or  Residents 

who  have  Accomplished  Something 

for  their  Community  or 

for  the  Nation 


Issued  by  the 

Worcester  Bank  &  Trust  Company 

1920 

5K 


Copyright,    1920 

BY    THE 

WORCESTER    BANK    &    TRUST   COMPANY 


Compiled,  arranged  and  printed  hy  direction  of 

Walton  Advertising  'J  Printing  Company 

Boston,  Mass. 


FOREWORD 


HE  very  favorable  reception  given  to  "Historic  Houses 
of  Worcester,"  the  first  brochure  published  by  the 
Worcester  Bank  &  Trust  Company,  has  encouraged 
the  publication  of  the  second  of  the  series,  and  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  present  to  its  friends  and  patrons  another 
historic  book  relating  to  Worcester  and  its  County.  And  here  the 
officials  of  the  Bank  acknowledge  their  debt  to  the  French  Acad- 
emy for  the  idea  which  is  embodied  in  this  book.  This  Academy, 
as  is  well  known,  is  composed  of  "Forty  Immortals." 

Realizing  what  an  important  part  Worcester  County  has  taken 
in  the  history,  not  alone  of  Massachusetts,  but  of  America,  the 
Bank  has  prepared  biographical  sketches,  illustrated  wherever  it 
has  been  possible,  of  forty  men  and  women  of  the  City  of  Worcester 
and  its  County,  who  have  done  something  worth  while  for  either 
the  community  or  the  world,  and  it  has  entitled  this  book  the 
"Forty  Immortals  of  Worcester  and  its  County."  It  has  been 
thought  best  for  many  reasons  to  limit  the  scope  of  this  book  to 
those  only  who  are  deceased.  A  paramount  reason  has  been  that 
the  accomplishment  of  those  living,  for  Worcester  as  well  as  for 
the  nation,  is  not  yet  finished. 

It  is  not  claimed  this  list  is  complete, — far  from  it;  but  it  is  based 
upon  a  careful  consensus  of  opinion  from  those  who  are  well  qualified 
to  make  such  a.  selection.  If  the  list  selected  arouses  discussion 
because  of  some  omitted  name,  the  omission  may  stimulate  an 
interesting  discussion  which  will  direct  attention  to  other  men  and 
women  who  have  helped  Worcester. 

As  the  Worcester  Bank  &  Trust  Company  aims  to  serve 
Worcester  County,  it  has  seemed  proper  to  include  in  the  list  men 
and  women  who  were  either  born  in  the  County  or  whose  work 
gained  for  them  success  and  fame  while  living  within  its  boundaries. 

Some  of  them  have  been  enrolled  in  the  history  of  the  nation, 
others  have  made  an  imperishable  record  for  themselves  on  the 
pages  of  the  world's  history,  and  surely  all  are  worthy  of  a  niche 
in  a  Worcester  hall  of  fame. 

The  Bank  sincerely  hopes  this  brochure  will  arouse  even  greater 
interest  in  Worcester  and  its  past,  and  that  it  will  be  found  worthy 
of  preservation,  and  through  its  influence  others  will  be  stimulated 
into  doing  something  for  their  city  and  county  which  is  worth 
while. 


OFFICERS  OF   THE   WORCESTER   BANK   & 
TRUST   COMPANY 

WILLIAM   D.  LUEY,  Chairman  of  the  Board 
JOHN    E.  WHITE,  President 

Vice-Presidents:  ALVIN   J.  DANIELS,  Treasurer 

HENRY   P.  MURRAY  FREDERICK   M.  HEDDEN,  Secretary 

SAMUEL   D.  SPURR  HARRY   H.  SIBLEY,  Assistant  Treasurer 

CHARLES   A.  BARTON  CHARLES   F.  HUNT,  Assistant  Treasurer 

BERTICE   F.  SAWYER  BURT  W.  GREENWOOD,  Assistant  Treasurer 

WARREN   S.  SHEPARD  FREDERICK  A.  MINOR,  Auditor 

TRUST  DEPARTMENT 

SAMUEL   H.  CLARY,  Vice-President  and  Trust  Officer 

DIRECTORS 

HERBERT   P.  BAGLEY      White  &  Baeley  Co. 

EDWIN   N.  BARTLETT Edwin  Bartlett  Co. 

ERNEST   P.  BENNETT Supt.  Roval  Worcester  Corset  Co. 

GEORGE    F.  BLAKE George  F.  Blake,  Jr.,  &  Co. 

CURTIS   R.  BLANCHARD Capitol  Lunch  System 

GEORGE    F.  BROOKS      Harrington  &  Richardson  Arms  Co. 

ALEXANDER   H.  BULLOCK Bullock  &  Thaver 

DeWITT   CLINTON      Treas.  Worcester  Gas  Light  Co. 

JOHN    H.  COES      Pres.  Worcester  Mechanics  Savings  Bank 

A.  OTIS    DAVIS Davis  &  Brown  Woolen  Co. 

ALEXANDER   DeWITT      Kinnicutt  &  DeWitt 

T.  H.  GAGE      Smith,  Gage  &  Dresser 

GEORGE   A.  GASKILL Pres.  People's  Savings  Bank 

HENRY  JEWETT   GREENE Insurance 

JAMES    N.  HEALD        Treas.  Heald  Machine  Co. 

CHARLES   H.  HUTCHINS Retired 

ALBERT   H.  INMAN Pratt  &  Inman 

WILLIAM    D.  LUEY Chairman  of  the  Board 

CHARLES    F.  MARBLE Treas.  Curtis  &  Marble  Machine  Co. 

CLINTON   S.  MARSHALL      Mgr.  American  Steel  &  Wire  Co. 

PAUL   B.  MORGAN      Pres.  Morgan  Construction  Co. 

ARTHUR    E.  NYE T-  Russel  Marble  &  Co. 

EDGAR   REED Pres.  Reed  &  Prince  Mfg.  Co. 

GEORGE   I.  ROCKWOOD Rockwood  Sprinkler  Co. 

WM.  H.  SAWYER,  Jr Treas.  W.  H.  Sawyer  Lumber  Co. 

JOHN    C.  STEWART Stewart  Boiler  Works 

HARRY   G.  STODDARD Vice-Pres.  Wvman-Gordon  Co. 

E.  KENT   SWIFT Whitin  Machine  Works 

FORREST  W.  TAYLOR      Real  Estate 

CHARLES   M.THAYER Thaver,  Smith  &  Gaskill 

GI-;ORGE   M.  THOMPSON Wickwire,  Spencer  Steel  Corp. 

REGINALD   WASHBURN Pres.  Wire  Goods  Co. 

CHAXNING   M.WELLS American  Optical  Co. 

JOHN    E.  WHITE      President 

M ATI-HEW   J.  WHirrAL! Carpet  Manufacturer 

SA.MUEL    B.  WOODWARD    .    .     Pres.  Worcester  County  Institute  for  Savings 
AR'l'IIUR   O.  YOUNG Pros.  Clatlin-Sumner  Coal  Co. 

6 


The  Bank  desires  to  express  its  appreciation 
for  the  many  courtesies  that  have  been  extended 
in  the  preparation  of  this  brochure. — To  Mr.  Lincoln 
N.  Kinnicutt;    to   the   American   Antiquarian    Society, 
and   especially  to  Mr.  Clarence  S.    Brigham    and    Mrs.  Mary 
Robinson    Reynolds    for    their   interest   and    assistance;     to    Miss 
Frances  Clary  Morse  for  permission  to  use  the  portrait  of  Alice  Morse 
Earle;   to  Miss   Saidee   F.  Riccius  for  assistance  in  the  matter  concerning 
Clara  Barton;  to  the  Rev.  James  A.  Mullen,  S.  J.,  Vice-President  of  the  College  of 
the  Holy  Cross,  and   to  Mr.  Timothy  A.  Shea,  Registrar  of  the  College,  for  their 
courtesy  and  for  the  use  of  the  portrait  of  Father  Fitton;  to  Dr.  George  O.  Ward  of 
Worcester  Academy  for  assistance  and  for  permission  to  use  the  portrait  of  Eli  Thayer;  to  Dr. 
Alonzo  \.  Bemis  for  the  use  of  the  portrait  of  Elias  Howe;  to  Ex-Mayor  James  Logan  for 
permission  to  reproduce  the  portrait  of  Russell  L.  Hawes;  to  the  Society  of  Antiq- 
uity for  the  use  of  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Abby  Kelly  Foster;   to  the  Trustees  of 
the  Rufus  Putnam  house  in  Rutland  for  permission  to  reproduce  the  portrait 
of    General    Putnam;    to    the    Schervee    Studios    for   the    use    of    the 
portrait  of  George  Frisbie  Hoar;  to  Doubleday,  Page  &  Company 
for  the  use  of  the  portrait  of  Andrew  Haswell  Green;   and  to 
Mr.  Henry  P.  Murray.     Thanks   are   especially   due   Mr. 
Benjamin  Thomas  Hill  for  aid  in  the  preparation  of 
the  list  of  the   "Forty  Immortals"   and   for    the 
use  of  several  pictures  in  his  fine  collection. 


FORTY         IMMORTALS 
Of  WORCESTER    ^   ITS    COUNTY 


DANIEL  GOOKIN 

(No  picture  extant) 

Founder  of  Worcester 

1612-87 

"^   ■   ^O  ascribe  to  Major-General  Daniel  Gookin  the  title  of  Father 
I  of  Worcester  would  be  conferring  a  compliment  well  deserved 

I  and  at  the  same  time  impart  an  honor  to  Worcester  which  she 

I  need  not  feel  ashamed  of  or  reluctant  to  accept,"  says  Ellery  B. 

Crane  in  his  account  of  the  early  settlement  of  the  town. 
The  father  of  Major-General  Gookin,  a  well-to-do  yeoman  of  England, 
left  Ireland,  where  his  son,  Daniel,  Jr.,  was  born  in  161 2,  and  came  to 
Virginia  in  1621.  He  planted  a  Colony  at  Newport  News,  where  some 
authorities  say  that  he  employed  as  many  as  fifty  servants.  After  the 
great  Indian  Massacre,  when  three  hundred  and  forty-seven  whites  were 
slain,  and  Gookin,  Sr.,  was  left  with  thirty-five  men  to  protect  his  prop- 
erty, the  planter  returned  to  Ireland.  His  son,  Daniel,  Jr.,  remained 
in  Virginia.  Here  in  1634  the  son  received  a  grant  of  twenty-five 
hundred  acres  of  land,  and  served  as  a  Commissioner  of  the  Upper 
Norfolk  Court,  and  as  Captain  of  the  Militia.  In  1642  he  received  an 
additional  grant  of  fourteen  hundred  acres — the  same  year,  in  fact,  that 
missionaries  from  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  came  to  Virginia  and 
converted  Gookin,  who  shortly  afterward  with  other  converts  was  ordered 
from  the  Colony. 

The  1st  of  May,  1644,  leaving  his  plantations  in  charge  of  servants. 
Captain  Gookin  with  his  wife  and  little  daughter  sailed  for  Boston.  On 
his  arrival  he  was  admitted  to  the  first  church  and  given  the  freedom  of 
the  city.  Later  he  moved  to  Cambridge  and  he  served  in  many  important 
offices.  He  was  the  first  to  bring  to  Boston  the  news  of  the  great  Indian 
Massacre  of  April  18,  1644,  during  which  so  many  of  the  Virginia  colonists 
lost  their  lives. 

In  1654,  when  Captain  Gookin  made  a  voyage  to  England,  he  was 
well  received  by  Cromwell,  who  interested  him  in  a  Jamaica  colonization 
scheme.  After  abandoning  his  work  in  this  connection.  Captain  Gookin, 
as  a  reward  for  his  public  services,  was  granted  five  hundred  acres  of  land 
by  the  General  Court  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  and  shortly 
afterward  he  and  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Mitchell  were  given  the  first  licenses 
for  a  printing-press  at  Cambridge.  As  the  years  passed,  Captain  Gookin's 
friendship  for  the  Rev.  John  Eliot  increased,  and  their  common  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  the  Indians  drew  them  more  closely  together.  In  1665 
the  attention  of  the  General  Court  was  brought  to  the  rich  lands  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lake  Quinsigamond,  which  Eliot  had  already  visited.  A 
committee  on  which  Daniel  Gookin  served  was  appointed  to  view  the 
land  and  to  report  "whether  it  be  capable  of  making  a  village,  and  what 
number  of  families  may  be  there  accommodated,  and  if  they  find  it  fit 
for  a  plantation."  In  the  report  of  this  committee  made  October  20, 
1668,  the  "good  chestnut  tree"  and  meadow  land  was  recommended. 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

The  General  Court  accepted  this  report  and  appointed  Captain  Gookin 
of  Cambridge,  Daniel  Henchman  of  Boston,  Thomas  Prentice  of  Woburn, 
and  Lieutenant  Richard  Beers  of  Watertown  to  plan  for  a  settlement. 

After  purchasing  the  land  of  the  Indians  for  "twelve  pounds  lawful 
money,"  lots  were  assigned,  and  the  actual  settlement  began  in  1673  — 
more  than  six  years  after  the  first  survey.  Lots  were  given  to  Captains 
Daniel  Gookin,  Daniel  Henchman,  Thomas  Prentice,  and  Lieutenant 
Richard  Beers.  Houses  were  built  and  then  the  work  suddenly  ceased 
owing  to  the  outbreak  of  King  Philip's  War.  All  of  the  buildings  erected 
by  the  settlers  were  burned,  and  Lieutenant  Beers  was  killed  in  the 
fight.     The  settlement  was  deserted. 

A  second  attempt  was  made  in  1685,  and  Captain  John  Wing  was 
appointed  to  fill  the  place  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Lieutenant  Beers. 
On  the  petition  of  Captains  Gookin,  Henchman,  Prentice,  and  Wing  the 
settlement  was  named  Worcester.  This  second  settlement  was  destined 
to  be  even  as  disastrous  as  the  first,  for,  though  the  accounts  of  the  death 
of  Captain  Henchman  in  1686  and  of  Captain  Gookin  in  1687  (both 
having  attained  the  rank  of  General)  are  meagre,  Indian  outbreaks  marked 
the  years  between  1686  and  1713 — the  date  of  the  third  and  successful 
settlement  of  Worcester.  The  most  tragic  occurrence  during  this  time 
was  the  death  of  Digory  Sergeant,  who  insisted  on  remaining  in  the 
settlement  long  after  his  fellow-settlers  had  abandoned  it.  He  was 
found  dead  in  his  house,  his  wife  having  been  killed  after  her  capture  by 
the  Indians,  and  his  children  carried  away  by  them. 

Major-General  Gookin  died  March  19,  1687,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five 
years,  having  faithfully  served  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  for  more 
than  forty  years.  His  list  of  writings  is  notable.  In  1674  he  wrote 
"Historical  Collections  of  the  Indians  in  New  England,  of  the  several 
Nations,  Customs,  Manners,  Religions  and  Government,  before  the  Eng- 
lish planted  there;"  in  1677  he  wrote  an  account  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
Christian  Indians  during  the  years  1675-76-77;  he  also  wrote  an  eight- 
volume  history  of  New  England  which  he  left  in  MSS.  and  which  was 
lost. 


ARTEMAS   WARD 

Soldier  and  Legislator 
ij2j-iSoo 

General  Artemas  Ward  had  an  eventful  life.  Schoolteacher,  store- 
keeper, army  officer,  and  legislator — every  chapter  carried  with  it  many 
exciting  events  which  in  his  peaceful  old  age  General  Ward  related  to  his 
admiring  grandchildren.  He  was  born  in  Shrewsbury,  Worcester  County, 
Massachusetts,  November  27,  1727.  After  his  graduation  from  Harvard 
University,  in  1748,  he  taught  school  in  Groton,  and  finally  opened  a  law 
office,  and  conducted  a  country  store.  He  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  General  Assembly,  as  a  member  of  the  Executive  Council 
of  Worcester  County,  was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  1755 
was  made  a  Major.  He  took  part,  three  years  later,  in  the  expedition 
under  General  James  Abcrcrombie  against  the  French  and  Indians  in 
Canada,  achieved  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  later  of  Colonel 
in  the  Third  Massachusetts  Regiment.  Artemas  Ward  early  expressed 
his  sympathy  with  the  cause  of  the  American  colonists,  and  finally,  on 

10 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  oj  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

a  day  when  his  townsmen  had  assembled  to  tear  down  the  old  Shrewsbury 
meeting-house,  a  messenger  arrived  post-haste  and  asked  for  Colonel 
Ward.  The  horseman  paused  and  watched  Colonel  Ward  come  forth 
from  the  group  of  workmen,  and  then  lingered  to  see  the  effect  of  the 
message  which  he  bore  in  a  sealed  packet.  The  haste  of  the  ride  and  the 
scarlet  coat  excited  the  other  men,  who  gathered  about  Ward  as  he  read 
aloud: — 

"Boston,  June  30,  1766. 
To  Artemas  Ward,  Esqr. 

Sir, — I  am  ordered  by  the  Governor  to  signify  to  you  that  he  had 
thought  fit  to  supersede  your  Commission  of  Col.  in  the  Regiment  of 
militia  lying  in  part  in  the  County  of  Worcester  and  partly  in  the 
County  of  Middlesex — And  your  said  Commission  is  superseded 
accordingly. 

I  am  Sir,  your  most  ob't  and  humble  serv't 

J  NO.  Cotton,  Deputy  Secretary.''^ 

"Give  my  compliments  to  the  Governor,"  said  Artemas  Ward  to  the 
horseman,  "and  say  to  him  that  I  consider  myself  twice  honored,  but 
more  in  being  superseded  than  in  being  commissioned  and  that  I  thank 
him  for  this,  since  the  motive  that  dictated  it  is  evidence  that  I  am  what 
he  is  not,  a  friend  to  my  country!" 

Amid  the  jeers  of  the  men,  the  horseman  rode  away.  And  when  the 
turbulent  spirit  of  America  burst  forth  they  joined  Artemas  Ward  in  the 
patriotic  ranks.  Thereafter  their  leader  was  identified  with  the  cause 
of  his  country.  Shortly  after  Lexington  and  Concord,  Ward  was  at 
Cambridge  directing  American  troops.  On  the  19th  of  May,  1775,  the 
Provincial  Congress  "Resolved  unanimously,  that  the  president  be  de- 
sired to  deliver  to  Gen.  Ward  the  commission  prepared  for  him  by  this 
Congress  as  General  and  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Massachusetts 
forces."  He  was  the  first  American  to  receive  the  commission  of  General 
under  American  authority.  He  remained  in  command  of  Boston  until 
the  arrival  of  General  Washington. 

In  1776  General  Ward's  resignation  was  accepted  by  Congress,  and  in 
that  year  he  became  Chief  Justice  of  the  Worcester  County  Court.  For 
sixteen  years  he  served  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature.  In  1786,  while 
he  was  on  the  bench,  occurred  Shays'  Rebellion.  Trouble  had  been  brew- 
ing for  two  years  and  the  first  open  opposition  occurred  late  in  September 
at  the  Court  House  in  Worcester.  A  body  of  armed  men  had  entered 
the  town,  and  made  an  attempt  to  stop  the  session  of  the  Court  presided 
over  by  Chief  Justice  Ward.  On  being  challenged  by  a  soldier.  Justice 
Ward  ordered  him  to  lower  his  musket.  The  man,  who  had  formerly 
served  under  General  Ward,  awed  at  the  command  in  his  voice,  did  as  he 
was  ordered.  On  the  steps  of  the  Court  House  were  several  men  with 
fixed  bayonets,  and  in  front  of  them  their  commander  with  a  drawn  sword. 
Justice  Ward  ordered  that  the  doors  be  opened.  Bayonets  were  pressed 
against  his  breast.  He  is  said  to  have  turned  to  the  armed  company,  and 
to  have  spoken  in  part: — 

"I  do  not  value  your  bayonets!  You  may  plunge  them  into  my 
heart!  But  while  that  heart  beats,  I  will  do  my  duty.  When  op- 
posed to  it,  my  life  is  of  little  consequence.  If  you  will  take  away 
your  bayonets,  and  give  me  some  position  where  I  can  be  heard  by 

11 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &    ITS    COUNTY 

my  fellow-citizens,  and  not  by  your  leaders  alone  who  have  deceived 
and  deluded  them,  I  will  speak — but  not  otherwise!" 

A  place  was  made  for  the  soldier-legislator,  and  from  that  hour  may  be 
dated  the  breaking  of  the  backbone  of  Shays'  Rebellion.  Indeed,  men 
who  threatened  General  Ward  with  personal  violence,  and  who  had  at- 
tempted the  destruction  of  his  home  in  Shrewsbury,  afterwards  acknowl- 
edged to  him  that  they  were  in  the  wrong. 

Not  long  after  these  events  General  Ward  retired  to  his  home  in 
Shrewsbury,  and  there  formed  a  picturesque  figure  in  his  old-time  costume, 
with  ruffles  and  shoe-buckles.  In  the  fine  old  homestead  that  had  shel- 
tered liim  for  many  years  occurred   his  death   on  October  27,    1800. 


RUFUS   PUTNAM 

Founder  and  Father  of  Ohio 
1738-1834 

If  Ohio  is  the  cradle  of  the  West,  as  one  has  said,  then  the  cradle  of 
Ohio  is  certainly  the  heart  of  Worcester  County.  At  what  has  been 
designated  as  the  precise  geographical  centre  of  Massachusetts,  less  than 
a  mile  west  of  Rutland  in  Worcester  County,  is  the  house  occupied  from 
1781  until  1788  by  General  Rufus  Putnam,  to  whom  can  be  justly  attrib- 
uted the  founding  of  Ohio.  More  than  that,  he  was  born  in  Sutton, 
Massachusetts,  not  far  away.  On  a  tablet  placed  on  the  old  house  by 
the  Massachusetts  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  are  enumerated 
the  leading  events  in  Putnam's  career. 

His  skill  as  an  engineer  compelled  the  evacuation  of  Boston  and  later 
protected  West  Point  during  the  Revolution,  and  his  far-sightedness  and 
persistence  led  to  the  founding  of  Ohio.  To  him  also  is  due  the  credit 
of  the  adoption  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  which  saved  the  United  States 
from  becoming  a  great  slaveholding  empire. 

The  boyhood  of  Rufus  Putnam  did  not  give  promise  of  the  brilliant 
future  that  awaited  him.  He  was  born  April  9,  1738.  When  he  was 
seven  years  old  his  father  died,  and  two  years  later  his  mother  married 
Captain  Sadler,  a  tavern-keeper  of  Upton.  Uneducated  himself,  the 
stepfather  denied  the  ambitious  boy  all  opportunities  for  an  education. 
After  he  was  nine  years  of  age,  Rufus  attended  school  but  three  days. 
Once  he  saved  a  few  pennies  earned  by  blacking  the  boots  of  the  tavern 
guests,  and  with  this  money  bought  shot  which  he  used  in  an  old  gun. 
He  shot  partridges  and  sold  them  for  enough  money  to  purchase  an  arith- 
metic and  a  spelling-book.  Captain  Sadler  refused  him  candles  by 
which  to  study,  and  so  his  knowledge  of  the  arithmetic  extended  scarcely 
to  the  rule  of  three — and  the  speller  remained  untouched.  At  fifteen 
he  was  apprenticed  to  Daniel  Mathews  of  Brookfield.  Mathews,  more 
lenient  than  Sadler,  allowed  the  boy  to  study  nights,  and  even  encouraged 
his  efforts.  "It  was,"  says  Senator  Hoar,  "to  those  winter  evenings  in 
North  Brookfield  and  the  studies  by  the  light  of  the  tallow  candle  that 
his  country  owed  the  ablest  engineer  officer  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
wise,  foresighted  intellect  that  decided  the  fate  of  America." 

At  the  age  of  nineteen,  young  Putnam  enlisted  as  a  common  soldier 
for  service  against  the  French  and  Indians,  where  his  experiences  smack 

13 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &   ITS    COUNTY 

of  Cooper  and  Dumas.  At  the  close  of  his  service  in  1760  he  devoted 
much  time  to  the  study  of  surveying,  and  in  1773  he  went  with  Colonel 
Israel  Putnam,  Captain  Roger  Enos,  and  Mr.  Thaddeus  Lyman  to  look 
over  Florida  lands  where  grants  had  been  promised  colonial  officers  and 
soldiers  who  had  served  in  the  French  War.  As  deputy-surveyor  of 
that  province,  Mr.  Putnam  and  his  party  brought  back  a  favorable  report, 
and  several  hundred  New  England  families  emigrated  to  Florida.  Un- 
doubtedly the  Putnams  would  have  been  among  this  number  had  not 
rumors  been  circulated  in  1774  that  the  king  had  refused  to  issue  a  patent 
for  the  lands. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  Rufus  Putnam  was  made  a  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel of  the  Worcester  County  Regiment  which  reached  Cam- 
bridge just  after  the  Battle  of  Lexington.  General  Washington,  un- 
willing to  risk  another  Bunker  Hill,  determined  to  fortify  Dorchester 
Heights  and  thus  compel  the  British  to  evacuate  Boston.  Putnam,  as 
engineer  of  the  undertaking,  planned  and  superintended  the  construction 
of  the  line  of  defence  which  was  raised  in  a  single  night.  General  Wash- 
ington was  so  impressed  by  this  feat  that  he  made  Putnam  chief  engineer 
of  the  Continental  army.  Later  Colonel  Putnam  built  the  fortifications 
and  citadel  of  West  Point.  Washington  speaks  of  him  as  the  ablest 
engineer  of  the  Revolution,  whether  French  or  American.  In  1783 
Rufus  Putnam  was  made  a  Brigadier-General,  and  the  same  year  Governor 
Bowdoin  appointed  him  a  justice  of  the  peace.  He  represented  Rutland 
in  the  Legislature,  tilled  his  farm,  aided  in  putting  down  Shays'  Re- 
bellion, and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Leicester  Academy. 

Early  in  1783  General  Putnam  became  interested  in  the  plan  proposed 
by  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering  for  settling  and  creating  a  new  State 
west  of  the  Ohio  River.  General  Washington  strongly  approved  of  the 
plan,  and  a  petition  signed  by  upwards  of  three  hundred  officers  and 
soldiers  was  forwarded  to  Congress,  requesting  that  bounty  lands  might 
be  located  in  that  section.  No  action  was  taken  by  Congress  for  several 
years,  as  Virginia  claimed  all  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
River.  In  1786,  however,  the  Ohio  Company  was  formed,  and  led  by 
Rufus  Putnam,  then  fifty  years  old,  secured  the  famous  Ordinance  of 
1787  whereby  slavery  was  forever  e.xcluded  from  the  State.  The  anti- 
slavery  clause  in  this  famous  Ordinance  has  been  ranked  by  some  his- 
torians with  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution.  It 
saved  the  great  Northwest  from  slavery.  Putnam  and  his  forty-eight 
immortals  pushed  forward  in  a  little  galley  named  the  Mayflower,  passed 
down  the  Ohio  River,  and  on  April  7,  1788,  landed  at  Marietta.  Ten 
years  later  General  Putnam  was  the  prime  mover  to  establish  at  Marietta 
the  first  academy  of  learning;  there  also  he  organized  the  first  Bible 
Society  and  Sunday-school  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  In  1802 
he  was  chosen  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  convention  that  formed  the  first 
constitution  of  Ohio. 

The  last  years  of  General  Putnam's  life  belong  to  the  city  he  founded, 
and  there — in  Marietta- — he  died  May  i,  1824,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six 
years.  Senator  Hoar  in  commenting  on  the  life  of  Putnam  says:  "[It 
is]  a  good,  honest,  old-fashioned  American  story.  It  is  a  Alassachusetts 
story.  It  is  a  Worcester  County  story,  although  we  by  no  means  pretend 
to  a  monopoly  of  such  things  in  Massachusetts  or  in  Worcester  County. 
Wc  have  got  over  wondering  at  them." 


14 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &   ITS    COUNTY 


TIMOTHY   BIGELOW 

(No  picture  extant) 
Patriot 


Colonel  Timothy  Bigelow  is  one  of  the  most  romantic  and  tragic  fig- 
ures in  the  whole  history  of  Worcester  County.  He  died  more  than  a 
century  ago — alone — in  debt — imprisoned.  To-day  he  is  cited  as  one  of 
the  most  daring  patriots  of  the  American  Revolution.  He  was  born  in 
Worcester,  August  12,  1739,  and  from  his  youth  distinguished  himself 
for  his  ability  to  lead  his  fellows.  Like  several  other  famous  Worcester 
men  he  learned  the  trade  of  blacksmith,  and  though  lacking  the  advan- 
tages of  an  education,  he  devoted  his  spare  hours  away  from  the  forge  to 
books,  and  by  the  time  he  became  actively  engaged  in  patriotic  demon- 
strations, he  had  gathered  a  small  library.  On  Worcester  Common  he 
trained  his  company  of  "Minute  Men"  who  responded  to  the  call  of 
Lexington,  marching  from  Worcester  to  Cambridge  where  their  leader 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major  and  given  command  of  a  division  of 
Arnold's  army  in  the  expedition  against  Quebec.  Bigelow  was  captured 
at  Quebec,  exchanged,  and  returned  to  Massachusetts.  After  he  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  Colonel  and  placed  in  command  of  a  regiment  of 
Worcester  County  men,  he  joined  General  Gates'  army,  was  present  at 
the  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  and  united  with  the  American  forces  at  Sara- 
toga, Verplanck's  Point,  Peekskill,  Valley  Forge,  West  Point,  and  in 
Rhode  Island  and  New  Jersey. 

Physically  disabled.  Colonel  Bigelow,  after  the  American  army  was 
disbanded,  remained  at  West  Point,  and  afterwards  was  given  the  com- 
mand of  the  National  Arsenal  at  Springfield.  He  soon  succumbed  to  ill 
health,  and  returned  home  without  money  and  with  no  prospects  for  the 
future.  His  property,  already  diminished,  was  sold,  and  Colonel  Bige- 
low, burdened  with  debt,  was  imprisoned,  February  15,  1790.  He  died  a 
little  more  than  a  month  later — on  March  3 1 — at  the  age  of  fifty-one.  His 
friend  Isaiah  Thomas  announced  his  death  in  the  Massachusetts  Spy  by 
printing  a  solitary  line. 

Three  memorials  remain  of  this  distinguished  patriot:  Montpelier,  Ver- 
mont, which  he  founded  and  named;  a  mountain  in  Maine  near  the  head 
of  the  Kennebec  named  for  him  because  he  had  climbed  it  for  purposes 
of  exploration  when  he  was  with  the  army  of  Benedict  Arnold;  and  the 
Bigelow  monument  on  Worcester  Common,  presented  by  his  grandson. 
Colonel  Timothy  Bigelow  Lawrence  of  Boston,  and  dedicated  April  19, 
1 861 — more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  after  Timothy  Bigelow  had 
marched  at  the  head  of  his  little  company  of  "Minute  Men"  to  join  the 
Amicrican  army  at  Cambridge. 


LEVI   LINCOLN 

.Ittorney-Ceneral  of  the  United  States 
1749-1S20 

Levi  Lincoln  began  life  humbly — at  the  anvil.  On  the  day  of  his 
death,  a  century  ago,  he  was  the  acknowledged  head  of  the  Worcester 
County  Bar,  a  man  who  had  served  his  State  and  Country  in  innumer- 

15 


I.   Aaron  Bancroft 
2.    Dwight  Foster  3.    Levi  Lincoln,  Jr. 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

able  capacities,  head  of  a  distinguished  family,  and  the  father  of  sons 
destined  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  history  of  the  Nation.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  1749  in  Hingham,  Massachusetts.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  prosperous  farmer,  but,  as  all  boys  worked  in  his  day, 
young  Lincoln  was  apprenticed  to  an  ironsmith.  His  love  of  books 
was  early  exhibited,  and  every  minute  that  could  be  spared  from  the 
anvil  was  devoted  to  study.  After  having  mastered  the  rudiments  of 
Latin  and  Greek,  Levi  Lincoln  through  his  own  exertions  entered  Har- 
vard University,  from  which  he  was  graduated  with  high  honors  in  the 
class  of  1772.  He  had  every  intention  of  entering  the  ministry,  but  it 
chanced  that  on  a  visit  to  the  courts  he  heard  John  Adams  speak,  and, 
inspired  by  the  eloquence  of  the  famous  patriot,  he  abandoned  his  plans 
for  the  pulpit  and  decided  to  study  for  the  bar.  While  he  was  preparing 
for  his  chosen  profession  in  the  office  of  the  celebrated  Joseph  Hawley 
of  Northampton,  the  Revolutionary  War  broke  out,  and  Lincoln  volun- 
teered and  served  with  the  army  in  Boston  that  eventually  caused  the 
evacuation  of  the  British  troops. 

After  choosing  Worcester  as  his  place  of  residence  he  began  the  prac- 
tice of  law  there  in  1775,  and  at  once  achieved  eminence  in  his  pro- 
fession. It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  he  conducted  the  defence  of  Mrs. 
Bethsheba  Spooner — the  first  capital  trial  in  the  Commonwealth,  and 
one  of  the  most  famous  in  the  annals  of  American  crime.  It  was  a  fore- 
gone conclusion  when  Mr.  Lincoln  took  the  case  that  Mrs.  Spooner 
would  be  convicted,  nevertheless  his  genius  for  argument  was  exhibited, 
and  his  MSS.  notes  were  for  many  years  brought  forth  from  time  to 
time  for  reference.  Shortly  after  conducting  the  defence  in  this  case 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  made  a  Judge  of  Probate,  and  was  chosen  a  delegate  to 
the  convention  that  framed  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts.  He 
served  in  the  Legislature,  and  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1800.  On  the 
election  of  Thomas  Jefferson  as  President,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  appointed 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  an  office  which  he  held  until 
1805,  when  he  resigned.  He  was  chosen  State  Councillor  of  Massa- 
chusetts the  following  year,  and  Lieutenant-Governor  in  1807  and  1808, 
becoming  Governor  in  the  latter  year  on  the  death  of  Governor  Sullivan. 
President  Madison  made  him  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  but  owing  to  failing  health  Governor  Lincoln  did 
not  take  the  office. 

The  latter  years  of  his  life  Governor  Lincoln  passed  on  his  farm  on 
Lincoln  Street,  Worcester,  in  the  house  that  has  been  removed  to  Grove 
and  Lexington  Streets.  Agriculture  was  his  hobby,  and  the  classics  his 
delight.  In  1781  he  had  married  Miss  Waldo  of  Boston,  and  their  sons 
became  distinguished  citizens.  Levi,  Jr.,  succeeded  his  father  in  many 
public  offices  and  for  nine  successive  years  served  the  Commonwealth 
as  Governor;  William  was  noted  as  a  historian;  and  Enoch  became 
Governor  of  Aiaine. 

ISAIAH  THOMAS 

Patriot,  Printer,  and  Founder  of  the  America7i  Antiquarian  Society 
17^0-1831 

Not  long  after  Isaiah  Thomas  had  removed  the  Massachusetts  Spy  to 
Worcester,  a  horseman  riding  post-haste  from  Philadelphia  to  Boston, 
bearing  a  copy  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  paused  for  a  brief 

17 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

rest  in  Worcester.  Mr.  Thomas  interviewed  the  rider,  with  the  result 
that  a  copy  of  the  Philadelphia  Gazette  containing  the  Declaration  was 
procured,  and  before  the  people  who  had  gathered  in  front  of  the  Old 
South  Church,  Isaiah  Thomas  on  that  memorable  day  in  July,  1776, 
read  the  document.  Later  he  printed  it  in  the  July  17th  issue  of  the 
Massachusetts  Spy,  then  owned  and  printed  by  him.  This  was  the 
first  appearance  of  the  Declaration  in  any  New  England  newspaper. 

When  Isaiah  Thomas  was  six  years  of  age  he  was  placed  as  an  ap- 
prentice with  Zechariah  Fowle,  a  printer  of  ballads  and  pamphlets  in 
Boston.  In  all,  Isaiah  Thomas  may  have  had  six  weeks  at  school,  but 
he  was  an  apt  pupil  and  loved  printing,  and  one  of  his  greatest  desires 
was  to  go  to  England,  where  he  might  perfect  himself  in  his  work.  Ten 
years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  therefore,  he  started  for 
Halifax  whence  he  hoped  to  find  his  way  to  London.  He  secured  employ- 
ment in  the  town  with  one  Anthony  Henry,  publisher  of  the  Halifax 
Gazette,  and  Thomas,  being  a  far  more  proficient  printer  and  editor  than 
his  employer,  soon  ran  the  paper  by  himself.  This  was  at  about  the  time 
of  the  much-discussed  Stamp  Act.  Thomas  removed  all  the  stamps 
from  his  paper  and  inserted  a  notice  to  the  effect  that  "all  the  issue  paper 
had  been  used,  and,  as  no  more  could  be  had,  the  paper  would  in  the  future 
be  published  without  stamps."  This  copy  of  the  Gazette  reached  England. 
The  young  printer  in  the  meantime  desired  greatly  to  go  into  mourning 
as  did  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  but,  not  daring  to  do  this,  he  reproduced 
a  picture  of  the  devil  in  the  act  of  driving  his  fork  into  the  stamp.  The 
■consequence  was  that  both  Thomas  and  his  employer  had  to  answer  to 
the  Government  authorities  for  the  attitude  of  the  paper,  and  Isaiah 
Thomas  departed  for  New  Hampshire. 

He  returned  to  Boston  and  entered  into  partnership  with  Fowle.  In 
July,  1770,  he  issued  the  first  copy  of  the  Massachusetts  Spy.  At  first  the 
paper  was  published  as  a  semi-weekly.  It  was  of  great  influence  among 
the  colonists,  and  its  publisher  was  placed  on  the  suspected  list  by  the 
Loyalists,  and  frequently  threatened  with  violence.  In  spite  of  this, 
however,  he  continued  one  of  the  active  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  after  meet- 
ings which  were  held  in  his  office,  he  frequently  printed  hand-bills  and 
other  patriotic  matter  until  far  into  the  night. 

Affairs  reached  their  climax  just  before  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  when 
friends  of  the  Patriot-printer,  including  John  Hancock,  persuaded  him 
to  remove  his  press  to  Worcester.  He  was  aided  in  this  undertaking  by 
General  Joseph  Warren  and  Colonel  Timothy  Bigelow.  In  Worcester  he 
continued  his  work  along  patriotic  lines.  He  also  did  considerable  print- 
ing for  the  Provincial  Congress.  After  peace  was  declared  in  1783,  his 
business  grew  rapidly,  and  in  1793  the  publisher  established  at  Quin- 
sigamond  the  second  paper-mill  in  the  County.  He  controlled  sixteen 
presses,  seven  of  which  were  in  Worcester,  and  he  established  five  book- 
stores in  Massachusetts  and  one  in  New  Hampshire.  He  printed  the 
first  folio  Bible  published  in  America,  and  became  the  largest  publisher  in 
the  country. 

In  1802,  his  son,  Isaiah  Thomas,  Jr.,  assumed  the  direction  of  the 
business,  and  Thomas,  Sr.,  devoted  his  time  to  writing  J  History  of  Print- 
ing in  America,  and  to  the  founding  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
After  collecting  a  large  number  of  books  with  which  to  endow  the  Society, 
Mr.  Thomas  called  together  some  of  his  friends,  among  them  Aaron  Ban- 
croft, Levi  Lincoln,  and  Nathaniel  Paine,  and  suggested  that  the  Ameri- 
can Antiquarian  Society  be  established.     On  November  19,  1812,  it  was 

18 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  oj  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

organized,   and   Mr.  Thomas  elected  first  president — an  office  that  he 
held  until  his  death,  April  4,  183 1,  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  his  age. 

Many  honors  came  to  him  before  his  death — honors  in  recognition  of 
his  liberal  gifts  to  Worcester  and  of  his  accomplishment  in  the  world  of 
letters.  He  gave  the  land  on  which  the  old  Court  House  was  built,  and 
aided  in  its  erection  (in  1801)  and  in  improving  the  grounds  about  it.  He 
laid  out  Thomas  Street,  gave  the  land  for  a  schoolhouse,  and  helped  in 
enlarging  Lincoln  Square.  Many  societies  honored  him:  Dartmouth 
College  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  M.A.,  and  Alleghany  College  that 
of  LL.D.  Mr.  Thomas  served  as  Grand  Master  of  the  Alassachusetts 
Grand  Lodge  of  Masons.  He  was  at  one  time  one  of  the  justices  of  the 
Court  of  Sessions.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was  born  on  Long  Island 
(January  19,  1749),  Massachusetts  has  always  claimed  Isaiah  Thomas  as 
one  of  her  noblest  sons,  and  he  properly  belongs  to  Worcester  County. 


AARON   BANCROFT 

Clergyman  and  Historian 
1755-1^39 

The  Bancroft  historians — father  and  son — belong  to  Worcester.  Aaron 
Bancroft's  great-grandfather,  Thomas  Bancroft  of  Reading,  Massachu- 
setts, left  a  will,  and  in  that  will  is  a  clause  that  might  have  given  both 
of  the  historians  cause  for  pursuing  the  interests  that  they  did. 

"My  history  books,"  says  the  document,  "to  be  divided  among  my 
three  sons  equally,  my  divinity  books  among  all  my  children,  not  includ- 
ing my  bible,  Clark's  annotations,  which  I  give  to  my  son  Thomas." 

Aaron  Bancroft  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Reading,  Massachusetts,  No- 
vember 10,  1755.  "Sturdy"  and  "pious"  are  words  that  characterize 
the  stock  from  which  he  sprang.  His  father.  Deacon  Samuel  Bancroft, 
was  one  of  the  ecclesiastical  council  that  dismissed  the  Rev.  Jonathan 
Edwards,  though  Deacon  Bancroft  protested  against  the  dismissal. 
From  his  father  Aaron  Bancroft  may  have  inherited  some  of  the  dissent- 
ing vigor  that  characterized  his  own  ecclesiastical  life  during  his  fifty 
years'  ministry  at  Worcester.  In  1774,  Aaron  Bancroft  entered  Harvard, 
and  during  his  first  vacation  the  Revolutionary  War  broke  out  and  he 
fought  at  the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill.  He  was  graduated 
from  Harvard  in  1778,  taught  school,  studied  theology,  and,  after  secur- 
ing a  license  to  preach,  went  to  Nova  Scotia  for  three  years  as  a  mission- 
ary. He  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1785,  and  the  following  year 
assumed  his  duties  as  clergyman. 

He  was  ordained  minister  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Worcester, 
where  he  remained  for  more  than  half  a  century — until  his  death.  Some 
years  after  his  settlement  in  Worcester,  Dr.  Bancroft  became  a  student  of 
the  Arminian  principles,  forerunners  of  the  broader  Unitarian  doctrine 
that  was  preached  in  Boston  early  in  the  last  century.  His  sermons  in 
defence  of  religious  liberty  were  more  or  less  criticised,  and  his  published 
pamphlets — thirty-six  in  all — were  widely  read  and  discussed.  He  has 
been  called  no  bigot,  but  a  lover  of  liberty,  rational  as  well  as  ardent. 
His  children  were  brought  up  to  view  both  sides  of  a  question.  One  of 
his  children  while  away  at  school  wrote  her  father  asking  what  were  his 
views  on  eternal  punishment.     By  way  of  answer,  Dr.  Bancroft  sent  her 

19 


CK.    — 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &    ITS    COUNTY 

the  three  best  treatises  on  the  three  most  important  theories.  At  another 
time,  one  of  his  daughters  read  "Dr.  Channing's  Letters  to  Dr.  Worces- 
ter." When  the  matter  came  under  discussion  she  was  asked  by  her 
father  if  she  had  not  read  "Dr.  Worcester's  Letters  to  Dr.  Channing." 
The  girl  made  some  slighting  remark  concerning  the  work  mentioned  by 
Dr.  Bancroft. 

"What!"  said  he,  indignantly.  "Are  you  a  daughter  of  mine  and  do 
you  read  only  one  side  of  the  question.^" 

In  1807,  Dr.  Bancroft  published  his  best-known  historical  work,  "The 
Life  of  Washington."  For  thirty  years  he  served  on  the  board  of  trustees 
of  Leicester  Academy  and  was  for  a  long  time  its  president;  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Worcester  County  Bible  Society,  and  of  the  American  Uni- 
tarian Society  from  its  origin  in  1825  until  1836;  he  was  a  fellow  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  In  1810  Harvard  conferred 
on  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  When  under  fire  of  the  criti- 
cism that  assailed  his  religious  beliefs,  Dr.  Bancroft  exhibited  great  cour- 
age. Indeed,  this  attribute  characterized  his  whole  life.  While  a  stu- 
dent he  did  not  hesitate  to  face  battle — nor  in  his  riper  years  did  any  of 
his  old-time  fire  desert  him.  During  Shays'  Rebellion  troops  flocked 
into  Worcester  and  billeted  themselves  on  the  residents  there.  One  even- 
ing Dr.  Bancroft  was  told  that  a  company  of  soldiers  was  marching  up 
the  street  towards  his  house.  He  seized  his  musket,  and  stationed  him- 
self outside  of  the  door  after  barring  it  within.  The  soldiers  demanded 
shelter  for  the  night.  Dr.  Bancroft  refused  them  admission.  "You  are 
rebels,"  he  said,  "and  you  shall  not  enter  this  house  except  by  violence." 
So  sharply  did  he  speak  that  the  company  turned  and  sought  shelter 
elsewhere. 

Dr.  Aaron  Bancroft's  death  occurred  August  19,  1839. 


DWIGHT  FOSTER 

Jurist 

Dwight  Foster,  destined  to  become  one  of  the  most  eminent  jurists 
of  the  Commonwealth,  completed  his  course  at  Brown  University  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  being  graduated  in  the  class  of  1774.  When  he  was  twenty- 
one  he  represented  Brookfield — his  native  town — in  the  convention  which 
framed  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts.  This  office  had  been  given 
Judge  Jedediah  Foster,  his  father,  whose  death  occurred  in  October, 
1779 — the  same  month  that  the  convention  assembled.  The  elder 
Foster — a  distinguished  jurist — was  a  delegate  to  the  first  state  consti- 
tutional convention,  a  judge  of  probate  and  a  justice  of  the  court  of 
common  pleas. 

Dwight  Foster  was  born  in  Brookfield,  Massachusetts,  September  7, 
1757.  After  his  graduation  from  Brown  University  he  began  the  study 
of  law  at  his  brother's  office  in  Providence.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1778,  became  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Providence,  and  on  his 
father's  death  removed  to  Brookfield.  His  appointment  to  his  father's 
place  in  the  constitutional  convention  of  IVIassachusetts  followed.  In 
1 78 1,  having  succeeded  his  father  in  many  other  offices,  Mr.  Foster  was 
made  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  Worcester  County,  and  in  1784  Harvard 

21 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

College  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  In  1792  he  was 
a  Presidential  Elector;  he  received  an  appointment  as  special  justice  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  as  high  sheriff  of  Worcester  County. 
He  served  as  a  member  of  each  branch  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
and  was  a  Federalist  member  of  Congress  from  1793  until  1799.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  from  1800  until  1803.  For  a 
decade  Judge  Foster  was  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
for  Worcester  County.  He  served  also  as  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Executive  Council. 

The  Rev.  Eliakim  Phelps,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Brookfield, 
in  a  sermon  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Judge  Foster,  which  occurred 
April  29,  1823,  speaks  of  Judge  Foster  thus:  "He  soon  acquired  an  em- 
inence in  his  profession,  and  a  share  of  professional  employment,  which 
very  few,  if  any,  have  acquired  within  the  County  of  Worcester.  As  a 
counsellor-at-law  his  opinions  were  sought  and  valued  perhaps  above 
those  of  any  of  his  competitors.  His  opinions  were  made  up  with  care 
and  thought,  and  when  once  formed,  he  had  seldom  occasion  to  alter 
them.  They  generally  indicated  a  sound  mind,  a  discriminating  intellect, 
a  good  store  of  professional  and  general  information,  and  a  happy  talent 
in  applying  general  principles  to  particular  cases,  and  in  perceiving  the 
precise  bearing  of  acknowledged  maxims  upon  points  to  be  established." 


ELI   WHITNEY 

hiventoT  of  the  Cotloyi-gin 
176S-182S 

The  story  of  Eli  Whitney,  the  inventor  of  the  cotton-gin,  has  been 
told  and  retold;  in  some  instances  to  exploit  his  marvellous  invention, 
and  in  others  to  impress  on  the  American  youth  the  matchless  courage  of 
the  inventor  in  the  midst  of  adversity.  He  was  born  December  8,  1765, 
in  Westboro,  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts — the  son  of  a  frugal  and 
industrious  farmer,  who  appears  to  have  been  disappointed  in  the  me- 
chanical genius  which  his  son  early  exhibited,  and  whose  disappointment 
was  later  furthered  when  young  Eli  entered  Yale  University.  The  lad 
while  attending  the  district  school  of  his  native  town  made  various  things, 
— a  fiddle,  a  set  of  kitchen  knives,  chairs  and  other  conveniences  for  the 
household.  And  in  order  to  add  to  his  store  of  mechanical  knowledge 
he  toured  the  county  and  visited  various  workshops.  In  spite  of  the  fact 
that  friends  attempted  to  dissuade  the  elder  Whitney  from  sending  his 
son  to  college,  the  thirst  for  a  liberal  education  on  the  part  of  Eli  finally 
won — and  he  entered  Yale,  where  he  received  his  degree  in  1792.  Though 
his  mechanical  tendencies  were  constantly  exhibited,  Eli  Whitney  de- 
termined to  make  some  use  of  the  education  he  had  received  at  Yale, 
and  therefore  accepted  a  position  as  tutor  in  a  Georgia  family.  One  of 
his  travelling  companions  on  the  journey  South  was  the  widow  of  General 
(Jrccnc,  who  with  her  family  was  returning  to  Savannah.  On  the  arrival 
(jf  the  y(jung  tutor  in  that  city  it  was  found  that  while  he  was  on  the  way 
South  another  man  had  been  chosen  to  fill  his  place.  Georgia  ever 
proved  an  unfortunate  spot  on  the  map  to  young  Whitney. 

The  invention  of  the  cotton-gin  was  brought  about  in  an  interesting 
way.     Whitney  had  been  befriended   by  Mrs.  Greene,  and  on  one  occa- 

22 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

sion,  after  she  had  seen  some  exhibition  of  his  mechanical  skill,  she  enter- 
tained a  distinguished  group  of  gentlemen,  who  deplored  the  lack  of  a 
machine  that  would  separate  the  cotton  fibre  from  the  seed.  It  then  took 
one  person  a  whole  day  to  clean  a  pound  of  cotton,  and  the  South  was 
languishing  for  want  of  a  means  to  get  its  cotton  crops  on  the  market. 
"Gentlemen,"  said  Airs.  Greene,  "apply  to  my  young  friend  Mr.  Whitney, 
— he  can  make  anything."  So  Eli  Whitney  set  to  work  on  the  problem — 
and  as  it  was  not  the  season  for  cotton  when  he  began  work,  he  scoured 
the  warehouses  of  Savannah  for  enough  cotton  with  which  to  experiment. 
In  a  room  assigned  to  him  in  the  Greene  house,  he  began  work,  making 
even  the  tools  with  which  he  was  to  construct  his  model.  The  inven- 
tion proved  a  success.  In  order  to  perfect  his  invention  he  returned  to 
Connecticut,  obtained  a  patent,  and  began  manufacturing  machines  to 
send  to  Georgia.  Disaster  upon  disaster  followed.  The  State  of  Georgia 
disputed  his  right  as  the  inventor,  and  no  less  than  sixty  suits  were  in- 
stituted in  that  State  before  a  single  decision  was  given  as  to  the  merits 
of  his  case.  The  inventor's  health  was  greatly  undermined  by  travelling 
in  an  open  carriage  from  New  York  to  Georgia  to  protect  his  rights  as 
the  inventor  of  the  cotton-gin.  His  coolness  on  these  occasions  was 
often  commented  on  by  those  who  were  following  his  case. 

Eventually  Eli  Whitney  manufactured  arms  for  the  United  States 
Government,  and  from  1798  to  1822  he  filled  large  contracts,  and  im- 
proved the  machinery  used  in  the  manufacture  of  these  commodities. 
His  litigations  concerning  the  cotton-gin  continued  until  his  death  on 
January  8,  1825,  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 


SAMUEL  SLATER 

Father  of  American  Cotton  Manufactures 
176S-1S35 

Worcester  County's  claim  to  Samuel  Slater  springs  from  the  fact  that 
he  established  both  wool  and  cotton  mills  in  Webster,  lived  a  part  of  his 
life  in  Webster,  and  died   there. 

Samuel  Slater's  stock  in  trade  when  he  came  from  England  to  America 
was  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  Arkwright  machines,  which  he  carried 
in  his  head. 

This  son  of  a  yeoman  of  Belper,  Derbyshire,  England,  was  born  June 
9,  1768.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  apprenticed  to  Jedediah  Strutt, 
who  was  associated  with  Sir  Richard  Arkwright  in  the  manufacture  of 
cotton-making  machinery.  After  serving  eight  years,  during  the  latter 
part  of  which  young  Slater  was  superintendent  of  the  Strutt  mill,  the 
young  man  turned  his  attention  to  America,  where  fruitless  efforts  had 
been  made  to  manufacture  cotton  machinery.  In  a  Philadelphia  paper 
he  read  of  a  bounty  of  £100  paid  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  for 
an  imperfect  carding  machine.  Without  the  knowledge  of  his  family 
he  sailed  for  America,  September  13,  1789,  and  on  landing  in  New  York 
secured  employment  with  the  New  York  Manufacturing  Company. 

It  was  while  there  that  Slater  learned  of  Moses  Brown's  interest  in 
spinning-machinery,  and  he  wrote  the  rich  Quaker,  saying,  "I  flatter 
myself  that  I  can  give  the  greatest  satisfaction  in  making  machinery." 
At  once  Moses  Brown  invited  the  young  man  to  go  to  Providence. 

23 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    IIS    COUNTY 

If  Samuel  Slater's  enthusiasm  was  high  when  he  left  New  York,  it 
sank  to  zero  point  when  Moses  Brown  showed  him  the  machines  that 
had  been  built  in  Pawtucket,  where  his  mill  was  located.  "These  will 
not  do,"  said  Slater.  "They  are  good  for  nothing  in  their  present  con- 
dition, nor  can  they  be  made  to  answer." 

"Thee  said,"  replied  Moses  Brown,  "that  thee  could  make  macliinery. 
Why  not  do  it.^" 

Slater  set  to  work  and  thus  it  came  about  that  he  built  the  first  suc- 
cessful cotton  machinery  in  America,  and  that  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island, 
became  the  cradle  of  cotton  manufacture.  So  successful  was  Samuel 
Slater's  undertaking  that  the  thrifty  Moses  Brown,  on  perceiving  the 
great  amount  of  yarn  that  had  been  spun  the  first  year,  said,  "Thee 
must  shut  down  thy  wheels,  Samuel,  or  thee  will  spin  all  my  farms  into 
cotton  yarn."  When  Slater  sent  some  of  his  yarn  to  Strutt  and  Ark- 
wright  in  England  the  product  was  pronounced  as  good  as  their  own. 

It  was  in  Pawtucket  that  Samuel  Slater  started  in  1799  the  first  Sun- 
day-school in  America,  carrying  its  work  on  in  connection  with  his  mill. 
This  idea  occurred  to  Mr.  Slater  one  Sunday  morning  when  he  heard 
several  boys  planning  to  rob  a  farmer's  orchard. 

"Boys,  what  are  you  talking  about .^"  Mr.  Slater  asked. 

"Bill  wants  to  go  to  Smithfield  and  rob  Mr.  Arnold's  orchard,  and 
Nat  says  he  don't  think  it  is  right  to  rob  orchards  on  Sunday." 

"I  don't  either,"  said  Mr.  Slater.  "I'll  propose  something  better  than 
that.  You  go  into  my  house.  I'll  give  you  as  many  apples  as  you 
want  and  I'll  keep  Sunday-school." 

Mr.  Slater's  first  cotton  machine  was  put  into  operation  December  21, 
1790.  The  second  cotton  mill  in  Rhode  Island  was  established  about  1800, 
and  in  1806,  when  Mr.  Slater's  brother,  John,  came  from  England,  they 
built  a  cotton  mill  on  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Saylesville,  Rhode 
Island.  In  1812  Mr.  Slater  built  mills  at  what  was  then  Oxford  and 
is  now  the  town  of  Webster,  Massachusetts,  adding  a  few  years  later 
machinery  for  manufacturing  woollen  goods.  He  had  varied  interests 
and  amassed  a  fortune.  Mr.  Slater's  death  occurred  in  Webster,  April 
21,  1835. 


LEVI   LINCOLN,  JR. 

Ctir'rrvdf  ni  Masscichusetts,  1825-34;  First  Mayor  of  JVorcester,  1S48 
1782-186S 

The  heritage  that  came  to  him  from  his  vigorous  forebears  was  nobly 
set  forth  in  the  person  of  Levi  Lincoln,  Jr.,  who  was  born  in  Worcester, 
October  25,  1782,  graduated  from  Harvard  University  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  and  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1805.  In  1812,  at  thirty  years  of 
age,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate — the  same 
year,  in  fact,  that  he  built  the  famous  mansion  in  Worcester,  destined  to 
receive  many  distinguished  guests.  In  1814  he  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives,  gaining  a  wide  reputation 
at  the  time  by  opposing  the  Hartford  Convention.  In  1822  he  was 
chosen  Speaker  of  the  House;  in  1823,  elected  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
the  State;  in  1824,  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court; 
and  in  1825  he  was  elected  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  serving  nine 
consecutive  years  in  that  office.     His  retirement  was  voluntary.     Later 

25 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

Governor  Lincoln  represented  the  Worcester  district  in  Congress,  and  in 
1 841  was  appointed  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Boston. 

After  more  than  thirty-six  years  of  public  life  he  retired,  his  last  public 
service  being  for  his  native  city,  which  he  served  as  first  Mayor,  in  1848. 
But  once  did  he  break  the  tenor  of  his  private  life  after  his  retirement. 
That  occasion  was  in  1864,  when  Governor  Lincoln,  then  over  eighty 
years  of  age,  was  chosen  a  Massachusetts  Elector,  and  cast  his  vote  for 
Abraham  Lincoln,  whom  he  greatly  admired,  and  who  had  been  his  guest 
nearly  twenty  years  before,  in  Worcester. 

The  retirement  of  Governor  Lincoln  from  public  life  did  not  mean  the 
abandoning  of  labor.  He  was  for  many  years  Vice-President  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  a  fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Arts  and  Sciences,  one  of  the  Trustees  and  President  of  the  Board  of 
Leicester  Academy,  President  of  the  Worcester  Agricultural  Society,  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  and  of  the  Board  of 
Overseers  of  Harvard  University,  where  the  degree  of  LL.D.  was  con- 
ferred on  him.     Williams  College  also  conferred  on  him  the  same  degree. 

Governor  Lincoln  constantly  worked  for  the  good  of  the  community; 
many  charities,  and  movements  affecting  the  public  welfare,  were  furthered 
by  him.  He  kept  his  interest  in  public  affairs  until  the  end  of  his  busy 
life.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  year  of  his  birth  was  the  same  as 
that  of  Calhoun,  Cass,  Van  Buren,  Benton,  and  Webster.  Webster  was 
frequently  a  guest  at  the  Lincoln  Mansion,  as  were  also  Henry  Clay, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  and  Edward  Everett.  Lafayette  was  received  by 
Governor  Lincoln  in  1824. 

Four  years  after  Governor  Lincoln  had  cast  his  memorable  vote  for 
Abraham  Lincoln,  his  death  occurred  on  May  29,  1868,  at  the  mansion 
on  Elm  Street,  Worcester,  now  occupied  by  his  grandson,  the  Hon.  Waldo 
Lincoln.  It  was  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  and  he  had  faithfully 
served  three  generations. 


JOHN  GREEN,  3d 

Physician;  Founder  of  the  Worcester  Public  Library 
IJS4-T865 

For  many  years  Dr.  John  Green  was  at  the  head  of  his  profession  in 
Worcester  County.  His  name  was  a  household  word.  He  was  more 
than  six  feet  tall,  his  figure  slight  and  stooping,  his  face  striking,  and  his 
eye  keen  and  observing. 

"Not  to  have  seen  him  as  under  that  brown,  broad-brimmed,  soft  hat," 
says  Benjamin  Franklin  Thomas  in  his  Reminiscences  of  the  Worcester 
Fire  Society  (1872),  "he  rolled  from  side  to  side  in  that  old,  time-honored 
gig,  through  the  streets  of  the  village,  town,  and  city,  was  to  have  missed 
one  of  the  most  striking  institutions  of  Worcester.  To  have  seen  him  in 
the  sick-room,  where,  seemingly  failing  to  observe,  nothing  escaped  his 
observation,  when  his  calm,  quiet  manner  begat  instant  confidence  and 
trust,  when  his  instinctive  sagacity  seemed  to  probe  the  disease  as  with 
the  keen  edge  of  a  lance,  was  a  benediction." 

Dr.  Green  came  of  a  family  of  prominent  physicians.  His  father, 
Dr.  John  (jrecn,  practised,  and  his  grandfather,  Dr.  John  Green,  was  also 
a  Worcester  physician.  His  great-grandfather  was  Dr.  Thomas  Green 
of  Leicester.     Dr.  Green  the  3d  was  born  in  Worcester,  April  19,  1784. 

26 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS   COUNTY 

He  was  graduated  from  Brown  University  in  1804  and  after  studying 
medicine  with  his  father  began  his  practice  in  Worcester  in  1807. 
Twenty  years  later  he  received  medical  degrees  from  Harvard  and  Brown 
Universities.  During  the  latter  years  of  his  life  Dr.  Green  made  book- 
collecting  a  hobby,  and  it  was  his  collection  of  seven  thousand  volumes, 
afterwards  supplemented  by  nearly  five  thousand  volumes,  with  which 
he  endowed  the  Free  Public  Library  of  Worcester  when  it  was  established 
December  23,  1859.  On  Dr.  Green's  death  in  1865,  he  left  $30,000  to 
the  city  as  an  endowment  for  the  department  created  by  him  in  the  insti- 
tution. In  1867,  Dr.  Green's  nephew,  Samuel  Sweet  Green,  became  a 
director  of  the  Free  Public  Library,  and  in  1871  he  was  chosen  librarian. 
There  are  many  stories  told  of  the  eccentricities  of  this  great  physician. 
Many  of  them  are  amusing;  others,  inspiring.  Still  others  portray  the 
strength  and  nobility  of  the  man.  "In  the  next  generation,"  continues 
his  biographer,  "he  will  be  known  only  by  [his]  munificence."  It  may 
well  be  added  that  a  great  physician  is  for  all  time.  And  that  Worcester 
County  may  well  honor  him  who  during  his  long  and  consecrated  life 
ennobled  his  profession. 


JOHN   DAVIS 

Governor  of  Massachusetts 

For  a  quarter  of  a  century  Governor  John  Davis  served  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts.  For  nine  successive  years  he  was  a  Represen- 
tative from  his  district  to  Congress,  for  fourteen  years  he  was  a  member 
of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  for  more  than  three  years  Governor  of 
the  State.  Three  towns  in  Worcester  County  may  claim  him:  North- 
boro,  where  he  was  born,  January  13,  1787;  Spencer,  where  he  lived  for 
a  time;  and  Worcester,  where  he  studied  law  and  resided  during  the 
greater  part  of  his  life.  His  former  home  in  the  city  is  still  known  as  the 
"Governor  John  Davis  Mansion."  In  it  Charles  Dickens  was  enter- 
tained. 

Of  sturdy  New  England  stock,  reared  on  a  farm,  his  body  hardened  by 
toil  on  the  land,  John  Davis  had  a  rich  endowment  for  the  public  life  he 
was  destined  to  lead.  He  attended  the  village  schools  and  at  sixteen 
became  a  teacher  in  one  of  them.  Having  earned  enough  money  to  at- 
tend Leicester  Academy,  he  prepared  for  college,  and  at  nineteen  entered 
Yale  University  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  181 2.  Study- 
ing law  in  the  office  of  Francis  Blake  at  Worcester,  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1815,  and  for  many  years  thereafter  he  was  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Worcester  County  Bar.  Without  solicitation  on  his  part  he  was 
chosen  on  the  Whig  ticket  in  1824  to  represent  his  district  in  Congress. 
During  this  period  he  strenuously  opposed  the  Clay  compromise  tariff 
bill.  He  was  a  splendid  debater  and  an  able  legislator.  In  January, 
1834,  he  was  elected  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  eventually  resigning 
that  office  to  again  take  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  He  achieved  some  fame 
as  an  orator,  and  many  of  his  speeches  were  published,  a  million  copies 
alone  being  printed  of  his  speech  delivered  in  1840  in  opposition  to  the 
subtreasury.  He  was  familiarly  called  "Honest  John  Davis."  After 
being  in  the  public  service  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  retired  to  spend 

27 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

the  closing  years  of  his  life  in  his  Lincoln  Street  home  at  Worcester,  read- 
ing the  classics,  especially  Tacitus  and  Livy. 

Governor  Davis  was  a  contemporary  of  Clay,  Calhoun,  and  Webster, 
whose  deaths  occurred  within  a  short  time  of  his  own.  He  has  been 
compared  with  these  three  orators:  "If  one  reads  for  mere  pleasure,  he 
will  be  more  gratified  with  the  glowing  fervor  and  sparkling  wit  of  Clay, 
the  subtle  metaphysics  of  Calhoun,  or  the  concise  and  demonstrative  logic 
of  Webster.  But  if  he  reads  to  gain  a  detailed  knowledge  of  the  question 
under  debate,  he  will  find  Mr.  Davis  more  instructive  perhaps  than 
either,  certainly  more  logical  than  Clay,  more  practical  than  Calhoun 
and  more  minutely  instructive  than  Webster." 

After  spending  a  brief  time  with  his  loved  classics,  in  gracious  conver- 
sation with  his  friends,  in  the  execution  of  the  many  public  trusts  con- 
cerning which  his  advice  was  sought,  in  watching  over  the  interests  of 
the  American  Antiquarian  Society  of  which  he  was  then  president,  and 
in  caring  for  his  garden  and  orchards.  Governor  Davis  succumbed  to  the 
disease  that  for  some  time  had  threatened  his  life.  His  death  occurred 
in  April,  1854,  at  his  Worcester  home,  from  which  Dickens  twelve  years 
before  had  watched  the  Sabbath  break,  and  the  Worcester  church-goers 
traversing  "the  distant  thread  of  road"  on  their  way  to  worship. 


JOHN  BOYNTON 

Founder  of  Worcester  Polytechnic  histitute 
ijQi-iS6j 

In  1865,  John  Boynton  of  Templeton  set  aside  $100,000  for  the  endow- 
ment and  perpetual  support  of  the  Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute, 
chartered  May  10,  1865.  Among  other  generous  contributors  to  this 
institution  were  Ichabod  Washburn  and  Stephen  Salisbury. 

"I  have  long  been  satisfied,"  said  the  founder,  "that  a  course  of  in- 
struction might  be  adopted  in  the  education  of  apprentices  to  mechanical 
employments,  whereby  moral  and  intellectual  training  might  be  united 
with  the  processes  by  which  the  arts  of  mechanism,  as  well  as  skill  in  the 
use  and  adaptation  of  tools  and  machinery  are  taught,  so  as  to  elevate 
our  mechanics  as  a  class  in  the  scale  of  intelligence  and  influence,  and 
add  to  their  personal  independence  and  happiness,  while  it  renders  them 
better  and  more  useful  citizens,  and  so  more  like  our  Divine  Alaster, 
whose  youth  combined  the  conversations  of  the  learned  with  the  duties 
of  a  mechanic's  son,  and  whose  ideas  and  teachings  now  underlie  the 
civilization  of  the  world."  This  school  was  opened  in  1868, — the  year 
following  Mr.  Boynton's  death, — and  was  one  of  the  first  of  its  class  in 
the  country. 

Mr.  Boynton  was  born  in  New  Hampshire,  May  31,  1791.  Until  his 
thirtieth  year  he  worked  as  a  farmer,  afterwards  beginning  the  manu- 
facture of  tinware.  He  eventually  removed  to  Templeton  and  in  1846 
retired  from  active  business.  He  served  for  a  time  as  a  representative 
of  his  town  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  after  closing  his  business  in 
Templeton,  removed  to  Athol,  where  he  became  first  president  of  the 
Millers  River  Bank.  His  death  occurred  March  25,  1867,  after  a  long 
ride  in  a  storm  from  which  he  suffered  great  exposure. 

The  great  Institute  which  he  founded  has  been  a  worthy  representa- 

29 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

tive  of  industrial  Worcester,  its  board  of  trustees  a  notable  one,  and  from 
it  have  gone  forth  men  who  have  been  of  influence  here  and  abroad.  It 
is  a  fact  worthy  of  note  that  the  founder  himself  had  little  school  instruc- 
tion— possibly  a  reason  for  his  wishing  to  benefit  others.  "He  was 
modest  and  reserved  in  his  disposition,"  says  one  notice  of  John  Boynton, 
"and  quiet  and  orderly  in  his  habits,  and  he  had  a  reputation  for  careful- 
ness and  moderate  thrift  rather  than  for  large  acquisitions  or  a  philan- 
thropic spirit.  He  was  regarded  as  an  honest,  unambitious  man,  whose 
thoughts  and  care  did  not  reach  beyond  his  private  affairs  and  his  personal 
comforts.  His  love  of  concealment  was  injurious  to  his  acts  of  individ- 
ual kindness  and  his  general  popularity.  This  disposition  was  gratified 
in  hiding  in  his  own  breast  the  benevolent  enterprise  to  which  he  intended 
to  devote  the  largest  part  of  his  property  during  his  life." 


CHARLES  ALLEN 

Chief  JuJtice  oj  the  Superior  Court  of  Massachusetts 
i-q7-i86q 

Chief  Justice  Charles  Allen  has  been  called  the  ablest  man  of  his  day — 
not  excepting  Daniel  Webster.  And  he  was  as  well  known  as  his  illus- 
trious kinsman,  Sam  Adams,  whom  he  in  no  small  degree  resembled. 
The  beginning  of  his  stormy  life  was  very  much  like  that  of  any  other 
young  man  of  old  family  and  ample  means.  His  father  was  a  clerk  of 
the  courts,  a  member  of  Congress  (in  1810  and  181 1),  and  a  public-spirited 
citizen  of  Worcester.  Judge  Allen's  great-grandfather  was  Samuel 
Adams,  the  father  of  Samuel,  the  patriot  Adams.  Charles  Allen  was  born 
in  Worcester,  August  9,  1797.  He  entered  Yale  College  in  181 1 — an  insti- 
tution from  which  he  was  never  graduated.  Later  he  studied  law  under 
Samuel  L.  Burnside.  His  literary  training  is  worthy  of  especial  note, 
for  prior  to  his  admission  to  the  bar  in  1821  and  the  beginning  of  his 
practice  of  law  in  New  Braintree,  the  young  student  familiarized  himself 
with  English  classic  poetry,  reading  the  entire  fifty  volumes  of  the  British 
Poets,  and  committing  to  memory  many  passages  from  them.  He 
thoroughly  acquainted  himself  with  New  England  history,  and  saturated 
himself  with  all  of  its  phases,  all  of  which,  together  with  his  knowledge 
of  the  classics,  formed  a  background  for  his  future  career.  He  became  a 
leader  of  the  bar  at  the  time  when  the  movement  was  made  to  annex 
Texas.  And  during  his  entire  life  he  belonged  essentially  to  the  Com- 
monwealth, outside  of  the  borders  of  which  he  was  little  known.  He 
represented  Worcester  in  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives  in 
1829,  1833,  1834,  and  1840.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  in 
1835,  1836,  and  1837.  Judge  Allen  was  appointed  judge  of  the  old 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1842,  at  a  time  when  nowhere  was  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Massachusetts  surpassed  in  ability.  During  Judge  Allen's 
term  of  office  the  celebrated  Wyman  trial  occurred  when  the  memorable 
conflict  took  place  between  Judge  Allen  and  Daniel  Webster,  one  of  the 
counsel  for  the  defence. 

"The  story,"  says  Senator  Hoar,  "is  variously  related,  even  by  persons 
who  were  present  on  the  occasion.  The  commonly  accepted  version, 
and  one  which  is  doubtless  in  substance  correct,  is  that  Mr.  Webster 
was  quite  uneasy  under  the  powerful  and  luminous  charge  of  the  Judge, 

30 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &   ITS    COUNTY 

and  rose  once  or  twice  to  call  the  Judge's  attention  to  what  he  supposed 
to  be  a  mistake  of  fact  or  law.  After  one  or  two  interruptions  of  this 
sort,  Mr.  Webster  rising  again,  the  Judge  said,  'Mr.  Webster,  I  cannot 
suffer  myself  to  be  interrupted  now.'  To  which  Mr.  Webster  replied, 
'I  cannot  suffer  my  client's  case  to  be  misrepresented.'  To  which  the 
Judge  replied,  'Sit  down,  sir.'  The  charge  proceeded  without  further 
interruption,  and  the  jury  were  sent  to  their  room.  Judge  Allen  then 
turned  to  Mr.  Webster  and  said,  'Mr.  Webster' —  Whereupon  Mr. 
Webster  rose  with  all  the  grace  and  courtesy  of  manner  of  which,  when 
he  chose,  he  was  master,  and  said,  'Will  your  Honor  pardon  me  a  mo- 
ment.'" and  proceeded  to  make  a  handsome  apology  and  express  regret 
for  the  occurrence." 

In  1858  Mr.  Allen  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  the  County  of  Suffolk,  and  the  following  year  he  was  appointed  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the  Commonwealth.  He  declined  a 
place  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court.  And  in  i860,  on  account  of 
failing  health,  he  was  obliged  to  decline  the  position  of  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts.  His  life  contains  many  episodes 
of  a  revolutionary  nature — and  his  relation  to  the  time  in  which  he  lived 
is  much  like  that  of  his  kinsman  Samuel  Adams.  He  had  first  of  all 
the  gift  of  leadership,  and  a  marvellous  power  as  an  orator.  An  ardent 
abolitionist,  he  was  instrumental  in  saving  from  slavery  the  great  terri- 
tory between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific,  and  eventually  in  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery.  At  the  same  time,  justice  governed  his  actions.  When 
he  was  a  Chief  Justice  of  the  Superior  Court,  a  fugitive  slave  who  had 
escaped  on  a  New  Orleans  vessel  was  seized  by  his  master  and  forced  back 
to  slavery.  In  response  to  the  indignation  expressed  by  the  people,  the 
captain  of  the  vessel  was  arrested  and  brought  before  Judge  Allen.  The 
question  arose  as  to  whether  the  act  had  been  committed  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  it  was  with  great  satisfaction  that 
the  people  heard  that  the  case  was  to  be  tried  before  a  great  abolitionist. 
Justice  then  spoke  through  the  decision  delivered  by  the  judge:  "He 
taught  the  whole  people  of  the  country  that  even  a  slave-catcher  could 
not  fail  in  his  reliance  on  the  justice  of  Massachusetts;  and  that  her 
indignation  against  what  she  deemed  the  worst  of  outrages,  the  kidnap- 
ping of  a  human  being,  could  not  swerve  her  from  her  obedience  to  law." 
The  man  was  acquitted  on  the  ground  that  the  offence  was  not  committed 
within  the  county. 

A  memorable  event  of  Judge  Allen's  life  occurred  on  his  return  to 
Massachusetts  after  having  served  as  a  delegate  from  the  Worcester 
District  to  the  Whig  National  Convention  which  met  in  Philadelphia  in 
June,  1848,  after  his  memorable  speech  ending  with  "Sir,  Massachusetts 
spurns  the  bribe!"  Judge  Allen  gave  his  report  in  the  City  Hall  at 
Worcester  to  the  multitude  that  thronged  there.  As  the  assembly  was 
about  to  disperse  after  hearing  Judge  Allen's  passionate  attack  on  the 
Whig  party,  his  brother,  the  Rev.  George  Allen,  came  to  the  platform 
and  moved  the  memorable  resolution  which  was  passed  and  adopted  by 
the  Free  Soil  party  as  a  slogan  in  its  campaign:  "Resolved,  that  Massa- 
chusetts wears  no  chains,  and  spurns  all  bribes.  That  she  goes  now  and 
will  ever  go  for  Free  Soil  and  Free  Men,  for  Free  Lips  and  a  Free  Press, 
for  a  Free  Land  and  a  Free  World."  So  was  inaugurated  the  political 
party  which  made  the  abolition  of  slavery  its  cardinal  principle.  Nor 
did  Charles  Allen  flinch  when  he  faced  the  most  powerful  antagonist  that 
not  alone  Massachusetts  but  America  ever  produced — Daniel  Webster. 

31 


I .   Charles  Allen 
2.  Ichiihocl  Washburn      3.  Rniorv  Washburn 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

And  his  denunciation  of  the  great  orator  is  second  only  to  the  poem 
written  by  Whittier.  He  was  the  personification  of  the  indomitable 
strength  of  New  England  even  during  a  great  illness  that  occurred  when 
he  had  served  two  terms  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Washing- 
ton climate  did  not  agree  with  him,  and  he  contracted  there  a  prolonged 
lung  fever.  The  attending  physician,  a  friend  of  Judge  Allen,  said  that  it 
was  but  a  matter  of  a  few  hours  before  the  patient  would  succumb  to 
the  disease,  but  the  judge  in  scarcely  an  audible  whisper  said,  "We  will 
see  about  that,"  and,  to  the  chagrin  of  the  physician,  recovered.  His 
death  occurred  in  1869,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age. 


ICHABOD   WASHBURN 

Founder  of  the  Washburn  and  Moen  Manufacturing  Co.,  now  consolidated  with  the 
American  Steel  and  Wire  Company  which  is  now  a  constituent  company  of  the 
United  States  Steel  corporation — the  largest  concern  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

179S-1S6S 

Christopher  C.  Baldwin  in  his  Diary  has  an  interesting  entry  con- 
cerning the  subject  of  this  sketch,  dated  May  28,  1829:  "Ichabod  Wash- 
burn raises  his  house  without  any  ardent  spirits.  Believed  to  be  the  first 
instance  of  the  kind  in  New  England."  But  Mr.  Baldwin  neglected  to 
add  with  what  difficulty  this  house  of  Ichabod  Washburn's  was  raised. 
Those  were  the  days  when  men  went  to  "raisings"  expressly  for  the  rum 
that  they  received,  nor  is  it  a  great  credit  to  good  workmanship  that  so 
potent  was  the  draught  quaffed  from  the  rum-barrels  that  frequently 
they  were  unable  to  perform  their  tasks,  or  else  so  imperfectly  did  they 
do  their  work  that  it  was  not  unusual  for  the  framework  of  the  building 
to  fall  on  its  noble  supporters.  Ichabod  Washburn  had  to  canvass 
Worcester  to  procure  workmen  who  were  willing  to  do  without  rum,  but 
he  finally  succeeded  on  the  promise  of  substantial  remuneration.  He 
served  lemonade,  crackers,  and  cheese  to  his  recruits,  who  if  they 
grumbled  did  their  work  well.  Their  worthy  employer  thereby  estab- 
lished a  precedent  in  New  England.  He  was  destined  to  do  other  things, 
— to  found  a  great  wire  concern,  and  to  go  down  in  history  as  a  philan- 
thropist. 

A  century  ago  young  Washburn  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Washburn 
and  Moen  Company — not  long  ago  amalgamated  with  the  American  Steel 
and  Wire  Company.  He  had  set  forth  to  seek  his  fortune  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  walking  from  his  birthplace  in  Kingston  to  Worcester,  where 
he  secured  work  at  a  forge.  His  apprenticeship  and  his  early  life  in 
Worcester  are  vivid  portrayals  of  the  sterling  New  England  grit  that 
Ichabod  Washburn  ever  exhibited.  He  had  little  money,  but  even  from 
his  scanty  funds  he  contributed  what  he  could  to  various  worthy  objects 
that  engaged  his  attention.  He  began  the  manufacture  of  lead  pipe — 
then  scarcely  thought  of  in  America.  He  made  the  first  woollen  con- 
denser and  long-roll  spinning-jack  ever  made  in  Worcester  County,  and 
one  of  the  first  in  this  country.  After  manufacturing  wire  and  wood 
screws  for  some  time,  Mr.  Washburn  began  the  manufacture  of  iron  wire, 
constantly  improving  his  machinery.  In  1850  he  took  into  partnership 
his  son-in-law,  P.  L.  Moen.  The  firm  of  Washburn  and  Moen  in  1869 
was  organized  with  a  capital  of  ^1,000,000  and  authority  to  increase  the 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

capital  to  ^1,500,000.  The  output  of  the  establishment  was  greatly- 
increased  as  the  demand  was  made  for  telegraph  wire  and  piano  wire,  and 
the  product  made  here  was  superior  in  quality  to  the  English  wire  that 
had  previously  been  used  in  America.  Between  i860  and  1870  hoop- 
skirt  wire  was  made.  Higher  grades  of  steel  were  made.  And  insulated 
wires  and  cabled  conductors  were  manufactured  in  large  quantities.  As 
the  larger  demands  for  iron  and  steel  wire  came,  the  Company  increased 
their  output  in  quantity  and  variety.  To-day  the  concern  is  the  largest 
of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

The  fortune  which  Ichabod  Washburn  amassed  was  liberally  given  by 
his  will  to  the  city  of  Worcester.  When  Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute 
was  founded  in  1868,  Mr.  Washburn  gave  a  large  machine-shop  to  the 
Institute.  He  was  a  generous  contributor  to  various  charitable  institu- 
tions. Memorial  Hospital  stands  as  a  fitting  memorial  to  him.  Mr. 
Washburn's  death  occurred  December  30,  1868. 


GEORGE   BANCROFT 

Historian,  Statesman,  and  Founder  of  the  Naval  School  at  Annapolis 
i8oo-gi 

Worcester  County  men  and  women  are  noted  for  their  longevity,  and 
George  Bancroft,  the  historian  of  the  United  States,  is  no  exception  to 
the  rule.  He  lived  to  be  more  than  ninety  years  of  age,  and  during  his 
last  days  it  was  no  unusual  sight  to  see  the  noted  man  mounted  on  a 
fine  horse  and  enjoying  his  out-of-door  canters  as  well  as  members  of  a 
younger  generation.  It  has  been  said  that  the  secret  of  all  genius  is  found 
in  a  child's  early  surroundings,  and  if  this  is  true,  George  Bancroft  came 
well  by  his  talents.  Of  a  long  line  of  New  England  clergy  and  writers, 
his  father  the  noted  Aaron  Bancroft  who  served  his  parish  in  Worcester 
for  more  than  half  a  century  and  who  gave  to  the  world  an  admirable 
Life  of  Washington,  Bancroft  the  younger  from  his  cradle  absorbed  a 
literary  and  cultured  atmosphere.  When  very  young  he  listened  with 
eagerness  to  this  and  that  historical  tale  told  him  by  his  father,  and  while 
other  children  romped  at  their  games,  Bancroft  stayed  with  his  elders 
and  frequently  took  part  in  discussions  of  importance. 

George  Bancroft  was  born  in  Worcester,  October  3,  1800.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen  he  was  graduated  from  Harvard  University,  and  an  oppor- 
tunity was  given  him  to  pursue  his  studies  in  Europe.  For  the  next  five 
years  of  his  life  he  studied  and  travelled  abroad,  and  was  honored  at 
various  European  universities.  His  father  had  hopes  that  young  Ban- 
croft might  enter  the  ministry;  Harvard  University  had  paid  his  expenses 
abroad  in  the  hope  that  he  might  return  to  the  University  as  a  professor. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  young  man's  plans  when  he  returned  in  1822  to 
America  were  not  formulated.  He  was  only  twenty-two  years  of  age. 
He  preached  once  from  his  father's  pulpit,  but  his  sermon  was  a  failure, 
and  it  has  been  said  that  his  manner  was  most  affected.  The  subject  of 
this  sermon  was  "Love."  For  a  time  he  was  tutor  of  Greek  at  Harvard. 
Later  with  Joseph  G.  Coggswcll  he  founded  the  famous  Round  Hill 
School  for  boys  at  Nf)rthanipton.  He  became  interested  in  political 
affairs,  but  declined  the  nomiiialioM  to  the  Senate. 

'T  have  formed  a  design,"  he  announced  in  1834,  "of  writing  a  History 
of  the  United  States  from  the  discovery  of  the  American  Continent  to 

34 


FORTY    IMAIORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &    ITS    COUNTY 

the  present  time."  Thus  began  one  of  the  most  important  works  of  his 
life — and  George  Bancroft  now  ranks  as  the  leading  American  historian. 

Followed  a  period  of  varied  activities:  He  was  defeated  for  Congress 
in  1835;  from  1838  until  1841  he  was  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Boston; 
in  1844  he  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
but  was  not  elected;  in  1845  he  was  made  Secretary  of  the  Navy  under 
James  K.  Polk,  and  while  holding  this  position  Bancroft  founded  the 
Naval  School  at  Annapolis.  It  was  while  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
that  Bancroft  issued  the  order  to  take  possession  of  California  should 
war  arise  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  and  during  the  absence 
of  the  Secretary  of  War  he  issued  an  order  to  General  Taylor  to  march 
into  Texas.  Frequently  the  question  has  been  discussed  as  to  whether  the 
memory  of  Bancroft  will  be  longest  preserved  as  the  founder  of  the  Naval 
School,  as  the  man  who  made  possible  the  acquisition  of  California,  or  as  a 
historian.     History  seems  to  give  him  the  most  laurels  as  a  historian. 

The  later  years  of  his  life  were  enviable.  He  was  courted  at  home  and 
abroad.  His  position  at  the  Court  of  St.  James  gave  him  a  prestige 
abroad.  He  first  went  to  the  Court  of  St.  James  in  1846;  in  1849  he 
returned  to  America,  where  he  pursued  for  some  years  his  work,  as  a 
historian;  in  1867  he  was  appointed  Minister  to  Prussia;  and  in  1874, 
at  his  own  request,  he  was  recalled.  For  more  than  half  a  century  he 
numbered  among  his  friends  men  in  both  hemispheres,  and  honorary 
degrees  were  conferred  on  him  by  many  European  and  American  uni- 
versities. In  Washington  and  Newport,  where  he  made  his  home  in  later 
life,  he  was  sought  by  literary  men  from  all  over  the  world.  A  great 
lover  of  roses,  his  home  was  filled  with  them,  and  on  his  death,  his  body 
was  literally  buried  in  them.  His  death  occurred  at  his  Washington 
home,  January  17,  1891,  and  his  remains  were  brought  to  Worcester  that 
he  might  rest  with  his  father  and  mother,  Aaron  and  Lucretia  Bancroft. 

The  later  birthdays  of  the  great  historian  were  made  times  of  great 
celebration  by  his  friends,  and  flowers,  messages,  and  congratulations 
were  showered  upon  him.  On  the  occasion  of  his  eighty-seventh  birth- 
day. Browning  sent  him  by  cable  this  verse: — 

"Bancroft,  the  message-bearing  wire 
Which  flashes  my  all-hail  to-day 
Moves  slower  than  the  heart's  desire 
That  what  hand  pens  tongue's  self  might  say." 


EMORY  WASHBURN 

Governor  of  Massachusetts,  i8§^-§4 
1800-J8 

Emory  Washburn  was  elected  Governor  of  Massachusetts  by  the  votes 
of  the  Whig  party  in  the  fall  of  1853.  Mr.  Washburn  was  then  in  Europe 
and  had  no  knowledge  of  his  election  until  his  steamer  touched  Halifax 
on  the  return  passage.  Though  his  service  in  this  office  was  brief,  Gover- 
nor Washburn  gave  to  his  duties  the  same  care  and  forethought  that 
characterized  every  act  of  his  life. 

He  was  born  of  an  old  New  England  family — of  yeoman  stock.  His 
grandfather,  Seth  Washburn,  the  grandson  of  that  John  Washburn  who 
was  the  first  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company,  married  the 

35 


FORTY    IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

grand-daughter  of  Mary  Chilton,  said  to  have  been  the  first  member  of 
the  Pilgrim  company  to  step  on  Plymouth  Rock.  Both  John  and  Seth 
Washburn  and  Seth's  son  Joseph  (father  of  Emory)  served  their  country 
in  innumerable  ways.  Emory  Washburn,  the  sixth  son  of  Joseph,  was 
born  in  Leicester,  February  14,  1800.  His  father  died  when  he  was  seven 
years  old.  It  was  to  the  careful  direction  of  his  mother,  who  survived 
her  husband  for  twenty  years,  that  much  of  the  later  success  of  her  son 
was  due.  He  was  fitted  for  college  at  Leicester  Academy,  and  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  entered  Dartmouth  College.  In  181 5,  when  a  valued  pro- 
fessor at  Dartmouth  became  president  of  Williams  College,  he  took  young 
Washburn  with  him.  Emory  Washburn  was  graduated  from  Williams 
in  1817  in  a  class  of  seven,  and  immediately  began  the  study  of  law  with 
Judge  Dewey  and  later  under  Asahel  Stearns,  then  the  sole  resident  pro- 
fessor of  law  at  Harvard  University.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1821,  and  began  the  practice  of  law  in  his  native  town,  where  for  several 
years  he  served  as  town  clerk.  In  1826  and  1827  he  represented  Leicester 
in  the  Legislature,  and  he  made  there  the  first  report  that  suggested 
the  building  of  a  railroad  between  Boston  and  Albany — several  years 
before  Massachusetts  had  a  single  mile  of  railroads. 

After  the  death  of  his  mother,  Washburn  in  1828  removed  to  Worces- 
ter. He  served  from  1830  to  1834  as  one  of  Governor  Lincoln's  aides, 
as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1838,  and  member  of 
the  Senate  and  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  in  1841  and  1842. 
From  1844  to  1848  he  was  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  After  serving  as  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  in  1853-54, 
Governor  W'ashburn  (in  1856)  was  appointed  Bussey  Professor  of  Law 
at  Harvard  University.  He  was  created  Doctor  of  Laws  by  both  Har- 
vard and  Williams  colleges.  In  1876  he  resigned  his  professorship  and 
devoted  his  time  to  study  at  his  Cambridge  home.  He  served  many 
institutions,  and  w^as  especially  interested  in  the  normal  schools  of  the 
Commonwealth.  He  aided  in  the  establishment  of  the  Worcester  County 
Free  Institute  of  Industrial  Science,  was  a  Trustee  of  Leicester  Academy 
and  Williams  College,  a  member  of  the  International  Code  Committee, 
a  director  of  the  American  Science  Association,  a  member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society,  where  he  served  on  the  Standing  Committee 
for  many  years  and  as  vice-president  from  1874  until  his  death;  he  was 
for  half  a  century  a  member  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  and 
a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

Dr.  Washburn's  death  occurred  Alarch  18,  1878.  More  than  fifty 
books  and  pamphlets  were  written  by  him  from  1826  until  his  resignation 
as  Bussev  Professor  of  Law  at  Harvard  Universitv. 


DOROTHEA   LYNDE   DIX 

Protector  of  the  World's  Insane 


A  noted  American  once  said  to  Miss  Dix,  "/  have  learned  from  you  never 
to  despair.'''  Herein  lies  the  secret  of  Dorothea  Lynde  Dix's  life-work — 
the  saving  of  the  world's  insane.  Unfortunately,  even  in  her  younger 
days  Dorothea  Dix  had  a  frail  constitution,  but  dominating  physical 
infirmities  was  the  splendid  will  and  steadfast  purpose  so  often  exhibited 
in  her  grandfather,  Elijah  Dix  of  Worcester.     A  story  will  illustrate  this 

37 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

point.  Dr.  Dix  had  incurred  the  hostility  of  some  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
and  word  reached  him  that  a  plot  had  been  laid  to  drive  him  out  of  town, 
and  that  undoubtedly  personal  violence  would  be  met  in  the  encounter. 
A  message  came,  purporting  to  have  been  sent  from  a  sick-bed.  It  was 
night  and  a  party  had  placed  itself  in  ambush  to  await  the  doctor.  On 
being  told  of  the  supposed  patient,  Dr.  Dix  announced  his  willingness  to 
go,  and  then  in  the  presence  of  the  messenger  he  threw  open  a  window, 
and  shouted  to  his  servant,  "Bring  round  my  horse  at  once;  see  that  the 
pistols  in  my  holsters  are  double-shotted;  then  give  the  bull-dog  a  piece 
of  raw  meat  and  turn  him  loose  to  go  along!"  Dr.  Dix  was  not  attacked 
that  night. 

His  grand-daughter — the  subject  of  this  sketch — in  her  youth  was 
reared  by  this  indomitable  physician  and  his  grim  wife.  And  if  all  that 
was  poetic  and  tender  in  the  child  was  suppressed,  the  germ  of  this  tender- 
ness remained  later  to  be  shown  to  the  unfortunate. 

Dorothea,  though  born  in  Alaine  and  practically  reared  in  Boston, 
began  her  career  in  Worcester  by  opening  in  1816,  when  she  was  but 
fifteen,  a  school.  Afterwards  she  returned  to  Madam  Dix's  home  in 
Boston  and  there  carried  on  her  school  work  at  the  little  house  in  Orange 
Court,  near  the  larger  Dix  Mansion  on  Washington  Street.  Between- 
whiles  she  wrote  various  books,  largely  of  a  poetic  nature.  In  1823 — a 
memorable  year  in  the  life  of  the  young  girl — she  met  the  Emersons,  and 
came  under  the  influence  of  Dr.  Channing.  It  was  in  that  year  also  that 
Dorothea  Dix  heard  of  the  unspeakable  conditions  in  the  jail  at  East 
Cambridge.  She  immediately  visited  the  jail  and  there  witnessed  the 
neglect  of  the  insane  patients,  one  poor  demented  woman  being  chained 
to  a  stake  and  left  to  the  care  of  a  deformed  black  man.  Miss  Dix 
wrote  articles  concerning  this  for  the  newspapers;  she  approached  the 
^Massachusetts  Legislature  and  was  influential  in  procuring  an  appropria- 
tion for  asylums;  she  next,  with  the  aid  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  secured 
a  bill  for  providing  for  the  Washington  insane.  Thus  began  her  career. 
Her  influence  was  felt  in  the  coming  years  throughout  the  world. 

Miss  Dix  states  in  one  of  her  letters  that  from  June,  1844,  until  August, 
1847,  she  travelled  32,470  miles.  This  trip  included  Long  Island,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Baltimore,  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati, 
and  all  of  the  Southern  cities. 

"Go  to  your  cells,"  she  wrote  in  a  memorial  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  Mississippi,  "and  dungeons  of  your  poorhouses  and  your  jails.  In 
imagination,  for  a  short  time,  place  yourselves  in  the  condition  of  the 
imprisoned,  neglected  maniac;  enter  the  horrid,  noisome  cell;  invest 
your  shrinking  limbs  with  the  foul,  tattered  garments  which  refuse  a 
decent  protection;  cast  yourselves  upon  the  loathsome  heaps  of  filthy 
straw;  find  companionship,  if  your  drear  solitude  is  ever  broken,  with 
the  gibbering  idiot,  or  the  base  criminal,  the  abandoned  felon;  listen  to 
your  own  hideous  shrieks  and  groans  or  to  the  cries  and  wailings  of 
wretches  as  miserable  as  yourself;  call  for  help  and  succor  and  release, 
for  blessed  words  of  soothing  and  kind  offices  of  care,  till  the  dull  wails 
weary  in  sending  back  the  echo  of  your  moans:  then,  in  recalling  self- 
recollection,  if  the  mind  is  not  quite  overcome  under  the  imagined  misery 
of  what,  alas!  is  real,  long-suflfered  distress  to  others,  return  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  your  sound,  intellectual  health,  and  say  if  any  exertions, 
and  sacrifices,  any  labor,  any  cost,  are  too  much  or  too  great  for  arresting 
the  strong,  steady  increase  of  insanity  within  your  borders!" 

Nor  did  Miss  Dix  confine  her  labors  to  the  North  American  Continent. 

38 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

She  visited  Europe  several  times  and  there  brought  light  to  the  insane. 
In  Italy  she  had  several  interviews  with  the  Pope,  Pio  Nono,  who  helped 
her  to  establish  a  new  hospital  in  Rome.  A  notable  service  w'as  rendered 
by  her  prior  to  and  during  the  Civil  War,  when  she  was  made  Superin- 
tendent of  Women  Nurses  in  General  Hospitals.  She  refused  money 
offered  for  her  services,  but  accepted  two  large  flags  ordered  made  for 
her  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  These  she  bequeathed  to  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, where  they  hang  in  Memorial  Hall. 

The  last  of  Miss  Dix's  life  was  passed  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  at  an 
asylum  founded  by  her  and  in  which  she  kept  an  active  interest  to  the 
last.  She  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  Hampden,  Maine,  April  4,  1802; 
and  she  breathed  her  last  in  New  Jersey,  July  17,  1887. 


WILLIAM  LINCOLN 

(No  picture  extant) 
Historian  of  Worcester 

Had  William  Lincoln,  who  is  best  known  by  his  valuable  history  of 
Worcester,  not  died  at  the  early  age  of  forty-two,  the  literary  endowment 
of  his  native  city  might  have  been  enriched  many-fold,  for  no  more  inde- 
fatigable literary  worker  can  be  found  on  the  long  list  of  writers  that  have 
given  Worcester  its  prestige  in  the  world  of  letters.  Besides  his  history 
and  many  volumes  edited  by  him,  Mr.  Lincoln  left  a  novel  in  MSS.,  called 
"The  Legends  of  Nicholas  Tristram,  Jr.:  A  Tale  of  the  Wilderness." 
This  story  is  said  to  have  been  written  in  a  cave,  bearing  the  writer's 
name,  on  the  old  Lincoln  estate,  whither  Mr.  Lincoln  resorted  when  he 
had  special  work  to  prepare  and  was  in  need  of  quiet.  He  devoted  much 
time  also  to  beautifying  the  estate  on  which  he  is  said  to  have  constructed 
a  pond,  and  to  have  increased  the  natural  beauty  of  the  grounds  by  adding 
rare  shrubs  and  flowers.  Throughout  his  life  he  maintained  a  keen 
interest  in  agriculture  and  horticulture  and  was  a  member  of  several 
societies  that  furthered  these  pursuits. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  the  son  of  Attorney-General  Lincoln,  and  the  brother  of 
Levi  Lincoln,  Jr.,  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  of  Enoch  Lincoln, 
Governor  of  Alaine,  was  born  in  Worcester,  September  26,  1801.  He 
was  graduated  from  Harvard  at  the  age  of  twenty  and  admitted  to  the 
bar  three  years  later.  Shortly  afterwards  he  and  Christopher  C.  Baldwin 
began  the  publication  of  the  Worcester  Magazine,  devoted  to  local  his- 
tory, still  consulted  and  valued.  All  phases  of  Worcester  history  claimed 
Mr.  Lincoln's  interest.  When  the  National  jEgis  was  first  published,  he 
edited  it;  he  also  edited  the  Journals  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  Com- 
mittees of  Safety  and  County  Conventions  (1774-75).  ^^  ^^35  ^^■ 
Lincoln  represented  Worcester  at  the  General  Court,  and  served  as  a 
member  of  the  Judiciary  Committee.  In  1837  his  history  of  Worcester 
was  published.  Mr.  Lincoln's  death  occurred  October  5,  1843.  "He 
was  profound  and  learned  for  his  years,"  said  Governor  Emory  Washburn, 
"the  diligent  student  with  his  ever-ready  fancy  and  playful  wit,  the 
genial  companion,  and  the  man  of  taste  and  letters." 

An  interesting  anecdote  is  told  by  a  man  who  evidently  knew  Lincoln's 
woods  although  he  might  not  have  been  aware  of  the  owner's  care  of  the 

39 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

feathered  folk  who  inhabited  it.  "As  a  young  man,"  he  said,  "I  was 
one  day  out  hunting  in  Paine's  Woods  on  Lincoln  Street,  and  on  my 
way  home  went  into  the  grounds  of  Mr.  Lincoln  with  the  idea  of  shooting 
robins  that  were  very  abundant  about  the  cherry-trees  there.  Mr. 
Lincoln  came  out  and  in  the  blandest  manner  said,  'If  you  please,  young 
man,  couldn't  you  just  as  well  do  your  shooting  somewhere  else.^'"  The 
youthful  huntsman  departed,  but  afterwards  asserted,  "I  had  a  shot  at 
the  robins,  all  the  same." 

JAMES   FITTON 

First  Catholic  Priest  of  Worcester,  where  he  laid  the  foundations  for  the 
College  of  the  Holy  Cross 

Father  James  Fitton  was  for  many  years  a  New  England  missionary 
and  priest.  When  the  Right  Reverend  Benedict  Joseph  Fenwick,  second 
Bishop  of  Boston,  founded  the  College  of  the  Holy  Cross,  he  had  a  sub- 
stantial foundation  on  which  to  build,  for  Father  Fitton  during  his  early 
days  in  Worcester  had  purchased  a  tract  of  land  on  Baogachoag,  or  Hill 
of  Pleasant  Springs,  and  there  in  1840  he  erected  a  building  destined  to 
receive  young-men  students.  He  called  the  school  the  Seminary  of  St. 
James,  in  honor  of  his  patron.  Eventually  the  institution  was  placed 
under  the  care  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  the  building, 
with  sixty  acres  of  land.  Father  Fitton  in  1842  presented  to  Bishop  Fen- 
wick, who  erected  the  central  building  of  the  College,  the  corner-stone 
of  which  was  laid  June  21,  1843.  Twenty-five  students  entered  the  col- 
lege the  first  year.  To-day  the  College  of  the  Holy  Cross  is  the  largest 
Catholic  college  in  New  England. 

It  is  not  strange  that  Father  Fitton  was  successful  in  the  varied  build- 
ing enterprises  in  which  he  was  engaged  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
for  he  once  jokingly  said:  "How  can  I  help  being  a  builder.''  Wasn't  I 
born  with  a  mallet.?"  Father  Fitton  referred  here  to  his  boyhood  in 
Boston,  during  which  he  watched  his  father  work  at  the  forge.  The 
Fittons  were  of  Welsh  and  English  extraction,  and  after  coming  to 
America  they  formed  a  part  of  a  hundred  Catholics  who  worshipped  in 
Boston  early  in  the  last  century.  Father  Fitton  was  born  in  a  house 
that  stood  at  the  corner  of  Milk  and  Devonshire  Streets,  Boston,  where 
the  Post-OfRce  now  stands.  He  attended  the  public  school  and  did  the 
usual  number  of  chores  that  fell  to  the  lot  of  Boston  boys  at  that  time. 
Every  day  before  school  he  drove  his  father's  cows  to  Boston  Common — 
then  a  pasture — and  after  school  he  brought  them  home.  Bishop  Chev- 
erus  was  pleased  with  the  lad's  conduct  and  advised  him  to  study  Latin, 
later  watching  him  while  he  was  a  student  at  a  New  Hampshire  academy, 
and  of  theology  in  Boston.  In  1827,  James  Fitton  was  ordained  to  the 
priesthood.  In  that  year  there  were  less  than  seven  thousand  Catholics 
in  Boston  and  in  the  six  New  England  States  but  seven  priests. 

To  enumerate  the  missionary  duties  of  Father  Fitton  during  the  early 
days  of  his  ministry  is  to  tell  the  story  of  New  England  a  century  ago. 
He  endured  the  hardships  of  the  pioneer,  travelling  hundreds  of  miles 
to  hold  services  in  remote  settlements.  His  hardest  experience  came  in 
Maine,  where  early  in  his  career  it  was  learned  that  the  Passamaquoddy 
tribe  of  Indians  needed  spiritual  help.     Father  Fitton  found  their  mode 

41 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

of  living  distasteful  and  the  food  served  him  scarcely  edible,  but  his  mis- 
sionary work  bore  rich  fruit  for  later  generations  of  the  tribe.  Other 
missionary  labors  performed  by  Father  Fitton  in  New  England  are  not- 
able, and  especially  do  his  memoirs  tell  of  the  kindness  with  which  the 
people  received  him,  of  the  eagerness  of  members  of  his  own  faith  to  hear 
Mass,  and  of  the  cordiality  displayed  by  the  New  England  folk  not  of 
his  faith,  especially  those  in  the  Green  Mountain  district,  who  frequently 
placed  at  his  disposal  their  own  meeting-house,  the  village  schoolhouse 
or  the  town  house.  After  spending  several  years  in  Vermont  and  Con- 
necticut, Father  Fitton  was  sent  in  1835  to  Worcester,  where  he  cele- 
brated the  first  Alass  in  the  shop  of  a  mechanic  of  the  town,  and  where 
he  preached  his  first  sermon  in  the  Old  Elephant  Tavern,  then  on  the 
stage  route  between  Boston  and  Springfield.  When  the  church  he 
eventually  built  had  no  roof,  he  celebrated  Mass  in  it.  A  heavy  shower 
came  up  during  the  Elevation  of  the  Sacred  Host,  and  three  members  of 
the  congregation  came  forward  and  held  umbrellas  over  Father  Fitton, 
moving  to  and  fro  with  him  during  the  Holy  Sacrifice.  Though  the 
congregation  was  drenched,  no  one  moved  to  a  place  of  shelter. 

The  later  events  of  Father  Fitton's  life  brought  to  him  much  of  accom- 
plishment and  honor.  For  several  years  he  served  as  pastor  in  Provi- 
dence, and  the  last  quarter-century  of  his  life  was  passed  as  pastor  of  the 
Church  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer  in  East  Boston,  where  he  died  Sep- 
tember 15,  1881.  "When  I  come  to  die,"  he  said,  "bury  me  where  God's 
sunshine  will  fall  on  me."  So  they  bore  him  to  the  Holy  Cross  Cemetery 
(Maiden),  where  the  sunlight  has  since  shone  across  his  last  resting-place. 


JOHN   S.  C.  ABBOTT 

Historian 
iSos-77 

John  Stevens  Cabot  Abbott  was  a  member  of  the  famous  class  of  1825 
at  Bowdoin  College,  in  which  were  graduated  Cheever,  Hawthorne,  and 
Longfellow,  and  while  a  student  he  made  his  first  and  last  attempt  at 
verse-making,  competing  with  Longfellow  and  winning  laurels  over  the 
future  American  poet.  Abbott  was  a  native  of  Maine,  having  been  born 
in  Brunswick,  September  18,  1805.  After  his  graduation  from  Bowdoin, 
he  became  principal  of  the  academy  at  Andover,  Massachusetts.  He 
was  graduated  from  Andover  Seminary,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  1829 
became  pastor  of  the  Central  Calvinistic  Church  at  Worcester,  where  he 
began  his  literary  career. 

It  was  while  Dr.  Abbott  was  delivering  a  scries  of  lectures  before  a 
mothers'  association  at  Worcester  that  the  idea  came  to  him  to  gather 
these  lectures  under  one  cover.  They  were  published  under  the  title  of 
"The  Mother  at  Home."  There  was  a  large  demand  for  the  little  vol- 
umes, in  six  months  alone  sales  having  been  made  of  some  ten  thousand 
copies.  The  book  was  published  later  in  England,  and  was  translated 
into  many  languages.  During  Dr.  Abbott's  forty  years'  service  as  cler- 
gyman he  occupied  eight  diilcrcnt  pulpits,  his  Worcester  pastorate  ex- 
tending from  1829  until  1834.  During  a  serious  illness  that  occurred 
during  the  end  of  his  Worcester  ministry  he  considered  devoting  his  time 
to  writing.     His  brother,  the  Rev.  Jacob  Abbott,  had  become  celebrated 

42 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &    ITS    COUNTY 

as  the  author  of  the  "  Rollo"  books,  and  this  gave  zest  to  Dr.  John  Abbott's 
ambitions.  Strange  to  say,  he  chose  a  then  much-maligned  character 
for  the  book  that  brought  him  an  international  reputation,  the  Life  of 
Napoleon  I.  The  great  French  general  was  judged  by  English  standards 
— and  was  almost  as  deeply  hated  on  this  as  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  But  Dr.  Abbott  studied  his  subject  deeply  both  in  England 
and  in  France,  and  then  wrote  the  biography  as  he  actually  believed  it 
should  be  written.  In  the  course  of  his  research  work  he  visited  Louis 
Napoleon  at  Paris. 

"Hard  writing  makes  easy  reading,"  was  the  historian's  motto,  and  it 
is  said  that  he  wrote  and  rewrote  whole  volumes  before  their  publication. 
He  thoroughly  mastered  his  subject  before  putting  his  thoughts  on  paper, 
and  no  moment  was  ever  too  full  for  him  to  receive  in  his  study  his  chil- 
dren or  a  friend.  Though  Worcester  was  not  Dr.  Abbott's  home  during 
his  later  years  as  minister  and  writer,  nevertheless  it  has  the  distinction 
of  having  been  his  home  when  he  began  his  literary  career.  Besides  his 
life  of  Napoleon,  his  most  famous  works  are  "Napoleon  at  St.  Helena," 
"Kings  and  Queens,"  "The  French  Revolution,"  "History  of  the  Civil 
War  in  America,"  "The  Romance  of  Spanish  History,"  "Prussia  and 
the  Franco-Prussian  War,"  "History  of  Frederick  the  Great,"  "History 
of  Maine,"  and  "The  History  of  Civilization."  Dr.  Abbott's  death 
occurred  in  1877. 


ELIHU   BURRITT 

The  ^'Learned  Blacksmith^'' ;  Reformer  and  Linguist 
I S 10-70 

By  the  time  Elihu  Burritt  was  thirty  years  of  age  he  had  mastered 
fifty  languages,  and  this  while  toiling  all  day  at  a  Worcester  forge.  He 
spent  his  nights  alone  in  a  study.  He  scarcely  had  a  common-school 
education,  for  he  had  been  set  to  work  as  soon  as  he  was  old  enough,  and 
had  saved  his  earnings  with  the  hope  of  getting  an  education.  The  little 
money  that  he  had  scraped  together  was  swept  away  in  the  financial 
panic  of  1837 — and  all  of  the  hopes  of  getting  to  Europe  went  with  it. 
So  Elihu  Burritt  walked  from  his  birthplace  in  New  Britain,  Connecticut, 
where  he  had  been  born  in  1810,  to  Boston.  The  ship  on  which  he  hoped 
to  take  passage  had  sailed,  and  young  Burritt,  hearing  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society  in  Worcester,  tied  up  his  few  earthly  possessions  in 
a  handkerchief  and  trudged  from  Boston  to  Worcester — in  order  to  see 
the  wonderful  library  where  books  might  be  read  for  the  asking. 

He  secured  work  at  a  local  forge  where  he  was  given  $12  a  month 
wages.  Slowly  his  fame  as  a  linguist  spread,  until  one  day  a  manuscript 
apparently  written  in  Danish  was  brought  to  him  for  translation.  Har- 
vard had  given  it  up — and  after  some  difficulty  Burritt  succeeded  in 
translating  the  strange  account  of  a  vessel  that  had  been  wrecked  on  the 
South  Sea  Islands.  The  paper  proved  to  be  written  in  the  dialect  of  the 
natives,  and  Boston  underwriters  awaited  the  story  which  Mr.  Burritt 
produced.  This  and  other  successes  gave  the  young  linguist  the  courage 
to  write  to  William  Lincoln  of  Worcester,  offering  his  services  as  a  trans- 
lator of  German.  The  communication  greatly  impressed  Mr.  Lincoln, 
and  he  saw  that  it  reached  the  hands  of  Governor  Edward  Everett,  who 
read  it  before  a  Teachers'  Institute,  and  there  gave  Burritt  the  name  that 

43 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  W  ORCESTER   &   ITS   COUNTY 

has  come  down  in  history — the  "Learned  Blacksmith."  Boston  papers 
printed  the  Everett  speech;  other  papers  copied  it;  and  shortly  after- 
wards an  opportunity  came  for  the  young  blacksmith  to  lecture  in  various 
places.  He  also  was  connected  with  the  Christian  Citizen,  a  weekly  paper 
published  in  Worcester,  devoted  to  temperance,  self-culture,  anti-slavery, 
and  peace.  This  is  said  to  be  the  first  publication  in  America  giving  defi- 
nite space  to  the  cause  of  peace.  The  idea  of  international  peace  took 
possession  of  Elihu  Burritt's  mind.  So  saturated  was  he  with  the  idea 
that  in  1846,  feeling  that  he  had  a  message  for  Europe,  he  sailed  on  the 
Hibernia.  His  "League  of  Peace"  mission  which  had  taken  firm  root  in 
America  was  destined  to  bear  rich  fruit  across  the  Atlantic.  He  was 
given  a  royal  reception  in  England,  and  the  League  which  he  formed  there 
was  called  The  League  of  Universal  Brotherhood.  Peace  congresses  were 
held  at  Brussels,  Paris,  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  London,  Manchester,  and 
famous  names — among  them  those  of  Victor  Hugo  and  Carlyle — were 
associated  with  the  meetings. 

The  great  blow  to  Elihu  Burritt's  League  came,  not  in  Europe,  but  in 
America  on  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  It  seemed  to  this  apostle  of 
peace  that  all  of  the  splendid  work  done  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic 
went  for  naught.  At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  he  served  the  United 
States  as  Consular  Agent  at  Birmingham,  England,  the  scene  of  his 
early  efforts  on  behalf  of  international  peace,  and  while  there  he  was 
instrumental  in  reducing  the  postal  rates  between  England  and  America. 
In  1870  he  retired  to  his  birthplace,  New  Britain,  Connecticut,  and  there 
passed  the  quietest  portion  of  his  life.  His  death  occurred  in  1879. 
To-day  few  know  Elihu  Burritt  as  the  "Learned  Blacksmith,"  fewer  still 
know  him  as  the  apostle  of  international  peace,  but  book-lovers  know 
his  "Walk  from  London  to  John  o'  Groat's"  and  "A  Walk  from  London 
to  Land's  End  and  Back."  Burritt  stands  alone  in  that  he  had  mastered 
fifty  languages. 

ABBY  KELLY   FOSTER 

Abolitionist  and  Reformer 
iSii-Sy 

It  is  impossible  to  write  or  even  to  think  of  Abby  Kelly  Foster  with- 
out associating  her  with  her  husband,  Stephen  S.  Foster,  and  the  Aboli- 
tionist movement.  The  three  are  inseparable.  Husband  and  wife  strug- 
gled long  for  the  cause  they  believed  in,  and  while  their  methods — like 
many  modern  militant  reformers — were  unique,  still  beneath  the  activ- 
ities of  the  Fosters  beat  warm,  ardent  hearts,  and  wills  to  suflFer  and  die 
if  need  be,  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  might  be  accomplished. 

"My  mother,"  said  the  daughter  of  the  Fosters,  "found  it  hard  to 
like  people  with  whom  she  differed,  but  my  father  loved  everybody."  A 
story  follows  illustrating  the  humor  of  the  great  Abolitionist.  A  slave- 
holder was  permitted  to  speak  on  the  same  platform  with  representa- 
tives of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society.  Stephen  S.  Foster  contradicted  a 
statement  made  by  the  slaveholder.  "Do  you  think,  sir,"  indignantly 
shouted  the  speaker,  "that  I  would  lie.?"  "Well,"  said  Mr.  Foster,  in 
his  rich,  kind  voice,  "I  don't  know  as  you  would  lie,  but  I  do  know  that 
you  would  steal." 

Abby  Kelly  Foster,  of  Irish-Quaker  parentage,  was  born  in  Pelham, 
Massachusetts,  January   15,    181 1.     She  was  educated   at  the   Friends' 

45 


FORTY    IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &    ITS    COUNTY 

School  in  Providence,  and  for  several  years  was  a  teacher,  a  vocation  that 
she  abandoned  in  1837,  in  order  to  lecture  on  abolition.  After  the 
Grimke  sisters  she  was  the  first  woman  to  enter  the  lecture  field.  The 
meetings  at  which  she  appeared  were  frequently  stormy  ones.  A  mob 
often  stormed  places  where  she  lectured,  but  Mrs.  Foster,  like  her  cele- 
brated husband,  continued  to  speak.  Mrs.  Foster  was  the  founder  of 
the  Anti-Slavery  Bugle,  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Webster  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  and  was  one  of  the  first  women  admitted  to  membership 
in  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society.  In  1845  she  married  Stephen  S. 
Foster,  whose  attacks  on  the  churches  which  he  claimed  upheld  slavery 
had  been  long  and  bitter.  His  pamphlet  "The  Brotherhood  of  Thieves, 
a  True  Picture  of  the  American  Church  and  Clergy"  had  caused  consid- 
erable agitation.  He  was  frequently  carried  by  force  from  church- 
gatherings  where  he  had  talked,  and  his  terms  in  jail  and  the  fines  imposed 
for  public  offences  were  most  frequent.  In  spite  of  his  methods  of  ac- 
complishing his  end,  Mr.  Foster  has  been  described  "as  nearly  as  it  is 
possible  for  a  man  to  be — free  from  unkind  personal  feelings."  "His 
attitude  toward  his  opponents,"  continues  Lillie  Buffum  Chace  Wyman, 
"was  always  such  as  once  impelled  him  to  say  in  public  meeting,  'I  love 
my  friend  Higginson,  but  I  loathe  his  opinions.'  In  his  home  life,  as  I 
knew  him,  this  doughty  warrior  upon  evil  was  the  most  lovable  of  men, 
gently  lenient  to  girlish  impertinence,  and  sympathetically  disposed  to 
the  spirit  of  youth.  He  was  a  sturdy  farmer  of  his  New  England  fields. 
'I  should  hate  farming  in  the  West,'  he  once  said.  'I  should  hate  to  put 
my  spade  into  ground  where  it  did  not  hit  against  rock.'  His  features 
were  as  rugged  as  the  rocks  he  loved,  and  his  hands  were  hard  and  gnarled 
with  toil.  His  gestures  were  ungainly,  but  his  voice  was  beautiful.  His 
eyes  were  blue  and  kind,  but  sometimes  there  was  a  look  in  them  as  of 
a  man  bent  indeed  on  going  his  appointed  way  in  the  world,  but  who  did 
not  always  see  a  light  upon  that  way." 

Mrs.  Foster  in  many  respects  was  his  direct  antithesis.  About  1850 
she  began  to  take  an  interest  in  equal  suffrage.  She  and  her  husband 
eventually  settled  on  a  farm  in  Worcester,  where  they  refused  to  pay 
taxes  because  Airs.  Foster  was  not  allowed  to  vote.  Here  Stephen 
Foster  died  on  September  8,  1881.  His  wife  survived  him  seven  years, 
her  death  occurring  January  14,  1887. 

James  Russell  Lowell  has  thus  described  Abby  Kelly  Foster: — 

"A  Judith  there,  turned  Quakeress, 
Sits  Abby  in  her  modern  dress. 
No  nobler  gift  of  heart  or  brain, 
No  life  more  white  from  spot  or  stain, 
Was  e'er  on  freedom's  altar  laid, 
Than  hers — the  simple  Quaker  maid." 


GINERY  TWICHELL 

Famous  Post-rider,  and  Proprietor  of  the  Largest  Lines  0]  Stage-coaches  in 
Ne:v  England 

Less  than  a  century  ago,  when  New  England  depended  on  stage-coaches 
for  transportation,  (Jincry  Twichcll  established  a  record  as  a  post-rider, 
and  later  became  the  proprietor  of  the  largest  line  of  stage-coaches  in 

46 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  oj  WORCESTER    &   ITS    COUNTY 

New  England.  Whatever  honors  came  to  him  in  his  riper  years, — and 
they  were  many,  for  Mr.  Twichell  became  president  of  several  important 
railroads  and  served  three  successive  years  as  Congressman, — probably 
he  will  be  remembered  longest  for  his  connection  with  early  transporta- 
tion in  New  England. 

Ginery  Twichell  was  born  August  26,  l8ll,  in  Athol,  where  on  leaving 
school  he  worked  for  a  mill-owner  and  also  for  a  live-stock  dealer.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen  he  had  charge  of  a  stage-line  between  Barre  and 
Worcester.  In  those  days  there  was  considerable  competition  between 
rival  lines,  but  the  young  driver  overcame  the  opposition  even  of  his 
enemies  by  his  inherent  good-will  and  readiness  to  do  a  favor.  In  1838, 
in  recognition  of  their  appreciation,  his  friends  presented  him  with  a 
stage-coach.  In  time  he  became  the  owner  of  more  than  two  hundred 
horses  and  of  several  lines  of  stage-coaches.  Mr.  Twichell  was  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  public  by  several  remarkable  feats  in  riding.  A 
memorable  one  was  a  ride  which  he  took  in  an  easterly  storm  from 
Worcester  to  Greenfield,  a  distance  of  fifty-five  miles,  and  thence  back  to 
Worcester  and  on  to  Boston,  forty-five  miles  farther.  During  this  ride 
he  carried  despatches  destined  for  the  Atlas.  The  ride  that  won  for  him 
the  title  of  "The  Unrivalled  Express-Rider,"  wherein  Mr.  Twichell  is 
represented  as  hastening  on  his  journey,  in  an  engraving  that  was  pub- 
lished to  commemorate  his  feat,  occurred  in  1846,  during  the  excite- 
ment over  the  Oregon  question.  Mr.  Twichell's  biographer  tells  the 
story:  "The  leading  newspapers  of  New  York  were  eager  to  secure 
despatches  expected  to  arrive  at  Boston  by  the  foreign  steamers  in 
January,  1846.  The  Herald  made  arrangements  to  carry  its  own  de- 
spatches from  Boston  to  Norwich  by  railroad,  thence  by  boat  to  Long 
Island,  and  across  the  island  by  mail  to  New  York  City.  The  Tribune 
and  other  papers  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  being  excluded  by  the 
Herald  from  participating  in  its  arrangements  with  the  railroad  and 
steamboat  companies  on  this  route,  Mr.  Twichell  was  obliged  to  use 
horses  instead  of  steam-power  for  most  of  the  distance.  He  could  obtain 
an  engine  to  run  from  Boston  to  Worcester  only  on  condition  of  its  being 
fifteen  minutes  behind  the  Herald^s  train.  From  Worcester  to  Hartford, 
a  distance  of  sixty-six  miles,  he  rode  on  horseback  through  deep  snow 
in  the  remarkably  short  time  of  three  hours  and  twenty  minutes;  thence 
from  Hartford  to  New  Haven,  by  railroad,  thirty-six  miles;  from  New 
Haven  to  New  York,  seventy-six  miles,  by  horses;  and  reached  New 
York  City  in  season  for  the  printing  of  the  despatches  before  the  arrival 
of  those  of  the  Herald." 

When  Commodore  Vanderbilt  during  the  winters  of  1840-41  and  '42 
requested  Mr.  Twichell  to  transport  passengers  from  Norwich  to  Allen's 
Point,  Mr.  Twichell  established  a  stage-line  there,  never  leaving  a  pas- 
senger behind,  and  taking  care  of  the  freight  in  a  manner  that  brought 
forth  commendation  from  Air.  Vanderbilt.  In  1838  Air.  Twichell  estab- 
lished a  stage-line  in  Worcester,  and  ten  years  later  he  was  made  assistant 
superintendent  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad.  The  following 
year  he  was  promoted  to  the  office  of  superintendent.  In  1857  he  be- 
came president  of  the  same  road,  a  capacity  in  which  he  served  for  a  dec- 
ade until  his  election  to  Congress  in  1866.  He  also  in  later  years  served 
as  president  of  the  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railroad  Company; 
the  Boston,  Barre  and  Gardner  Railroad  Company;  and  the  Hoosac 
Tunnel  and  Western  Railroad  Company.  Air.  Twichell's  death  occurred 
in  1883. 

47 


1.  Jonas  G.  Clark 
2.  Alexander  Hamilton  Bullock     3.  William  T.  G.  Morton 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 
JONAS   G.  CLARK 

Founder  of  Clark  University 
1S15-IQ00 

Jonas  Gilman  Clark  has  been  called  an  American  of  Americans.  Of 
sturdy  old  New  England  stock,  he  exhibited  a  simplicity  and  largeness 
of  heart  which  makes  the  true  philanthropist,  while  his  modesty — even  in 
the  years  when  a  large  fortune  had  been  amassed — never  deserted  him. 
It  was  his  custom  to  mildly  boast  in  his  later  years  that  he  could  make 
any  part  of  a  carriage  better  than  any  other  man  he  knew. 

Mr.  Clark  was  born  in  Hubbardston  on  the  first  of  February,  181 5, 
the  son  of  a  farmer  of  independent  means.  He  received  a  good  education, 
and  finally  selected  the  trade  of  carriage-making.  After  learning  his 
trade  he  opened  his  shop.  Later  he  entered  the  hardware  business, 
eventually  establishing  manufactories  or  stores  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
State.  In  the  early  "fifties"  Mr.  Clark  engaged  in  the  California  trade 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune  in  dealing  in  miners'  supplies. 
This  fortune  he  greatly  increased  during  the  reconstruction  period  that 
followed  the  Civil  War,  when  he  made  large  transactions  in  government 
securities,  and  invested  in  Boston  and  New  York  real  estate.  In  1875, 
having  sold  his  Fifth  Avenue  home,  he  purchased  another  site  on  Seventy- 
second  Street,  near  the  present  Lenox  Library.  On  his  removal  from  the 
city  he  sold  this  property  for  half  a  million. 

In  1881,  having  selected  Worcester  as  his  permanent  place  of  residence, 
Mr.  Clark  built  his  home  on  Elm  Street.  There  he  collected  a  large  and 
costly  library,  and,  conscious  of  the  responsibilities  of  a  large  fortune, 
he  evolved,  after  extensive  studies  abroad,  a  plan  for  a  great  university 
where  post-graduate  courses  in  higher  education  and  original  research 
might  be  had  without  going  abroad.  Thus  he  founded  Clark  University, 
purchasing  a  site  for  the  college  buildings  in  1887  in  Worcester.  Eight 
of  the  leading  men  of  Worcester  were  invited  by  Mr.  Clark  to  assume 
the  duties  of  Trustees:  Stephen  Salisbury,  President  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society;  Charles  Devens,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States;  George  F.  Hoar,  United  States  Senator;  William  W. 
Rice,  a  member  of  Congress;  Dr.  Joseph  Sargent,  an  eminent  physician; 
John  D.  Washburn,  former  United  States  Minister  to  Switzerland; 
Frank  P.  Goulding,  a  member  of  the  Worcester  County  Bar;  and  George 
Swan,  also  a  member  of  the  Worcester  Bar. 

The  University,  to  which  Mr.  Clark  gave  an  endowment  of  two  millions, 
was  granted  a  charter  in  1887  and  on  October  22  of  that  year  the  corner- 
stone was  laid.  In  1888  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall  was  made  president.  The 
University  was  formally  opened  in  October  of  1889.  Twelve  years  after 
the  opening  of  the  University,  Mr.  Clark  died  at  his  home  in  Worcester, 
May  23,  1900. 

Hubbardston,  where  he  was  born,  was  generously  remembered  by 
the  philanthropist.  But  the  crowning  work  of  his  life,  the  work  that 
absorbed  nearly  a  third  of  his  eighty-five  years,  is  the^University — his 
greatest  memorial. 

"Broad  in  its  scope,"  said  Mr.  Clark,  of  his  university,  "liberal  in  its 
methods,  and  comprehensive  in  its  teachings,  it  must  of  necessity  prove 
a  powerful  instrument  in  promoting  the  higher  education  and  fuller 
development  of  the  intellectual  faculties  of  our  people.     Being  placed, 

49 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

as  we  propose  it  shall  be,  in  charge  of  the  wisest  and  most  accomplished 
scholars  of  the  day,  in  several  departments  of  science,  literature,  and  art, 
those  seeking  to  avail  themselves  of  its  advantages  will  be  brought  in 
close  relations  with  the  best  thought  and  most  profound  wisdom  of  the 
world  and  age." 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON   BULLOCK 

Goz>er7wr  of  Massachusetts,  1866-69 
1816-82 

The  father  of  Alexander  Hamilton  Bullock  taught  school  in  Royalston 
in  his  youth,  kept  a  country  store  there,  and  finally  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facturing that  brought  him  a  splendid  fortune.  For  five  years  the  elder 
Bullock  represented  his  native  town  in  the  Massachusetts  House  of 
Representatives;  he  was  twice  elected  Senator  for  Worcester  County, 
was  a  member  of  the  conventions  that  revised  the  Constitution  in  1820 
and  again  in  1853.  He  was  a  Presidential  Elector  in  1852  on  the  Whig 
ticket,  and  a  trustee  of  Amherst  College. 

The  son  of  this  distinguished  Worcester  County  man  was  born  in 
Royalston,  Worcester  County,  March  2,  18 16.  He  fitted  for  college  at 
Leicester  Academy,  entered  Amherst  College  in  1832  and  was  graduated 
in  1836.  In  later  life  he  served  this  institution  in  several  capacities — 
as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  chairman  of  the  Financial  Com- 
mittee, and  president  of  the  Alumni.  Amherst  in  1865  conferred  on 
Alexander  Bullock  the  degree  of  LL.D.  and  the  following  year  Harvard 
University  conferred  on  him  the  same  degree. 

Following  in  his  father's  footsteps,  Mr.  Bullock  after  his  graduation 
taught  school  in  Royalston.  He  also  taught  at  Kingston,  Rhode  Island. 
He  studied  law  at  Harvard,  and  he  spent  the  year  of  1840  in  the  office  of 
Emory  Washburn  of  Worcester,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1841. 
Like  his  father,  he  was  a  staunch  Whig.  In  1842,  while  serving  as  an 
aide  on  the  military  staff  of  Governor  John  Davis,  Mr.  Bullock  became 
the  editor  of  the  National  ^gis,  a  Whig  newspaper  published  in  Worces- 
ter. Mr.  Bullock  represented  Worcester  in  the  Massachusetts  House 
of  Representatives  from  1845  until  1848,  and  the  county  of  Worcester 
in  the  Senate  in  1849.  It  was  at  this  time  that  his  speeches  began  to 
attract  attention,  his  eulogy  on  John  Quincy  Adams  in  1848  being  a 
masterpiece  of  its  kind.  In  1859  Mr.  Bullock  was  elected  Mayor  of 
Worcester,  his  term  being  distinguished  by  the  establishment  of  a  Free 
Public  Library,  the  publication  of  a  history  of  Worcester,  and  many 
other  memorable  events. 

With  the  approach  of  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Bullock  favored  the  national 
Republican  party,  and  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  also  the  nomina- 
tion of  John  A.  Andrew  as  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth.  He  made 
many  stirring  speeches  at  this  time,  and  on  the  raising  of  a  volunteer 
militia  in  Worcester  he  aroused  enthusiasm  when  he  asserted: — 

"Under  no  circumstances  will  there  be  a  yielding  to  submission  and 
disgrace.  Better  that  the  earth  should  engulf  us  than  to  yield  our  capital 
to  the  rebels  who  would  seize  it." 

On  the  departure  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Regiment  for  the  front,  Mr.  Bul- 
lock, on  behalf  of  friends,  presented  to  Colonel  Sprague  a  horse,  and  later, 
willing  to  stake  his  wealth  for  the  cause  so  dear  to  him,  he  said:    "Bring 

50 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

me  your  tax-bills  and  send  out  the  regiment!  Every  man  or  woman  who 
has  anything  to  spare  owes  it  to  the  country,  this  month  and  next,  to 
place  a  portion  of  it,  at  least,  in  the  public  stocks.  .  .  .  Every  dollar  in- 
vested for  the  Government  will  transcend  in  appreciation  the  annals  of 
usury;  and  even  if  it  is  lost,  it  will  be  riches  to  the  losers,  for  it  would  be 
recoined  in  the  wealth  and  treasure  of  the  heart." 

In  the  fall  of  l86l  Mr.  Bullock  was  re-elected  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, becoming  Speaker  of  the  House  the  following  January.  He 
was  re-elected  to  this  office  in  1863  by  every  vote  but  three,  and  in  1864 
and  1865  was  unanimously  chosen.  His  famous  Cooper  Institute  speech 
was  made  in  New  York,  November  26,  1861.  In  January,  1865,  antici- 
pating a  speedy  end  of  the  four  years'  conflict,  Governor  Andrew  an- 
nounced his  desire  to  withdraw  from  the  Governorship  of  the  Common- 
wealth, and  on  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office,  Air.  Bullock,  after 
being  unanimously  nominated  at  the  Republican  State  Convention, 
was  elected  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  November  7,  1865.  He  served 
until  January,  1869.  He  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  public  life  of 
Worcester,  where  he  served  as  president  of  the  Worcester  County  Institu- 
tion for  Savings,  as  a  director  of  the  Worcester  National  Bank,  president 
of  the  State  Mutual  Life  Assurance  Company,  and  in  various  other 
capacities.  Though  in  poor  health  for  some  time  before  his  death, 
Governor  Bullock's  end  came  suddenly,  as  he  was  walking  to  his  home, 
January  17,  1882.  "He  has  left  behind  him,"  said  the  Worcester  Spy 
the  following  morning,  "the  memory  of  great  trusts  worthily  discharged, 
of  opportunities  for  usefulness  well  improved,  of  a  private  life  honorable, 
beautiful,  and  without  a  stain." 


ELIAS   HOWE,  JR. 

Inventor  of  the  Sewing-machine 
1819-6J 

The  sewing-machine  was  not  a  chance  invention,  but  the  result  of 
consistent  vision  and  labor  on  the  part  of  Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  its  originator. 
The  idea  occurred  to  him  while  he  was  employed  in  Ari  Davis's  shop  on 
Cornhill,  Boston,  where  nautical  instruments  were  manufactured  and 
repaired.  In  1839  an  inventor  and  a  capitalist  were  endeavoring  to  make 
a  successful  knitting-machine.  The  task  proved  too  much  for  them, 
and  they  brought  their  model  to  Davis  in  order  to  see  if  he  could  make 
anything  of  it.  That  genius  expressed  some  contempt  for  the  knitting- 
machine,  and  asked  the  men  why  they  didn't  make  a  sewing-machine. 
Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  then  twenty  years  old,  heard  the  conversation,  and  his 
active  mind  seized  on  the  problem  and  never  rested  until  he  had  perfected 
the  invention. 

Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Spencer,  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts, 
in  1819.  His  father,  a  farmer  and  m.iller,  had  difficulty  in  supporting  his 
large  family.  When  six  years  old,  Elias  worked  with  his  brothers  sticking 
wire  teeth  into  cards  used  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton.  Later  he  helped 
on  the  farm  and  at  his  father's  grist  mill.  During  the  winter  months  he 
attended  the  district  school.  When  Elias  was  eleven  years  old  he  was 
bound  to  a  farmer,  but  learning  that  lucrative  employment  might  be 
obtained  in  Lowell  at  the  cotton  mills,  he  went  there  and  remained  until 

51 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

the  closing  of  the  mills  after  the  crash  of  1837.  He  then  went  to  Cam- 
bridge and  there  sought  work  in  a  machine-shop.  His  inventive  genius 
was  not  realized  until  he  overheard  the  conversation  in  Ari  Davis's  shop, 
where  he  had  obtained  work  after  leaving  Cambridge. 

For  a  long  time  he  did  scarcely  more  than  reflect  on  the  possibilities  of 
such  a  machine,  particularly  when  looking  over  heaps  of  unsewn  army 
and  navy  clothing,  and  in  thinking  what  a  pity  it  was  that  so  much 
work  could  not  be  done  by  machinery.  When  scarcely  twenty-one  years 
old,  he  married,  and  the  burden  of  a  family  did  not  tend  to  aid  the  con- 
summation of  the  invention  he  was  destined  to  give  the  world. 

Worn  with  overwork  and  oppressed  by  constantly  increasing  poverty, 
Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  in  1843  began  actively  to  make  a  model  of  the  sewing- 
machine.  Months  were  wasted  in  fruitless  toil.  By  October,  1844,  he 
had  completed  a  rough  model  of  wood.  In  the  mean  time,  his  father 
had  removed  to  Cambridge,  where  he  had  introduced  a  machine  invented 
by  him  for  cutting  palm-leaf  into  strips  for  hats.  This  gave  young  Howe 
employment.  He  was  also  aided  by  George  Fisher — a  devoted  school- 
mate and  friend,  who  for  several  years  gave  the  inventor  financial  aid. 
During  the  entire  winters  of  1843-45,  Howe  worked  at  his  invention. 
In  April  of  the  latter  year  he  sewed  an  entire  seam  on  his  machine  and  by 
May  he  had  completed  his  work.  In  July  he  sewed  all  of  the  seams  of 
two  woollen  suits  of  clothes, — one  suit  for  George  Fisher,  and  one  for 
himself, — the  sewing  in  both  outlasting  the  cloth.  His  difficulties  had 
only  begun,  and  the  success  that  seemed  imminent  was  very  far  away. 
A  tailor  whom  he  brought  from  Boston  condemned  the  machine;  a  public 
exhibition  given  by  the  inventor  failed  to  exploit  the  machine  as  he  wished. 
Disheartened,  after  a  long  period  Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  decided  to  go  to  Eng- 
land. He  was  assisted  by  his  father  and  brother  in  the  project.  Dis- 
couraging as  his  American  experiences  had  been,  England  held  yet  further 
disappointments  for  him.  And  finally,  so  poor  that  he  had  not  enough 
money  to  pay  for  his  passage  home,  he  pawned  his  first  model  and  re- 
turned to  New  York,  where  news  awaited  him  that  his  wife  was  dying 
in  Cambridge.  On  borrowed  money — for  he  had  but  half  a  crown  when 
the  message  came — he  purchased  a  ticket  for  Massachusetts. 

Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  found  that  in  America  his  patent  had,  during  his  two 
years'  absence  abroad,  been  infringed.  He  brought  suit  against  the 
guilty  persons,  and  after  nine  years  of  litigation  the  case  was  decided  in 
his  favor.  At  the  expiration  of  his  patent  in  1867 — the  year  of  his  death 
• — his  invention  had  brought  him  a  fortune  of  more  than  $2,000,000. 
And  it  was  said  that  the  sewing-machine  enabled  the  United  States  to 
keep  a  million  men  in  the  field  during  the  Civil  War.  In  1919,  at  Spencer, 
Massachusetts,  there  was  unveiled  a  tablet  at  the  birthplace  of  the  three 
members  of  the  Howe  family  who  have  an  important  place  in  the  history 
of  American  invention.  Two  of  these  inventors — William  and  Tyler 
Howe — were  uncles  of  Elias,  Jr.,  the  first,  the  inventor  of  the  truss  bridge, 
patented  in  1840,  and  the  second,  the  inventor  of  the  spring  bed,  patented 
in  1855.  This  tablet  stands  two  miles  south  of  the  centre  of  Spencer 
Village. 


S3 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 


WILLIAM  T.  G.  MORTON 

Dentist,  Physician,  Discoverer  of  the  use  of  Ether  as  an  Ano'sthelic 
1819-6S 

In  the  Boston  Public  Gardens,  near  Marlborough  Street,  is  a  monu- 
ment commemorating  the  discovery  of  ether.  The  inscription  states 
that  it  is  "to  commemorate  the  discovery  that  the  inhaling  of  ether 
causes  insensibility  to  pain,"  and  that  it  was  "first  proved  to  the  world 
at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  October  16,  1846." 

Strange  to  say,  the  name  of  the  discoverer.  Dr.  Morton,  does  not  appear 
on  the  monument.  No  reason  has  been  assigned  for  this,  and  though  it 
will  be  remembered  that  long  and  furious  was  the  dispute  concerning  the 
discovery,  it  cannot  be  for  this  reason  that  Dr.  Morton's  name  was  omitted. 
He  was  wont  to  say  that  he  was  "the  only  person  in  the  world  to  whom 
this  discover}^  had  been  a  pecuniary  loss."  Though  for  years  after  his 
first  demonstration  of  what  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell  has  called  "The  Death 
of  Pain,"  Dr.  Morton  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  daily  relief 
was  being  brought  to  suffering  humanity. 

William  Thomas  Green  Alorton  was  born  in  Worcester,  August  19, 
1819.  He  left  the  public  school  when  very  young  and  removed  to  Boston, 
where  he  procured  work  in  a  publishing-house.  After  being  cheated  by 
the  men  with  whom  he  was  associated,  he  decided  to  study  dentistry  in 
Baltimore.  These  were  days  when  experiments  were  being  made  with 
brandy,  opium,  and  laudanum  to  deaden  pain,  and  even  hypnotism  had 
been  tried.  None  had  proved  successes,  and  surgeons  everyAvhere  were 
obliged  to  hold  their  patients  by  main  force  while  a  difficult  operation 
was  performed.  All  of  these  things  impressed  young  Morton  when  he 
began  his  study,  and  the  more  he  thought  of  them  the  more  time  he 
gave  to  the  study  of  medicine  and  gases  at  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital.  He  tried  experiments  on  his  dog.  And  at  one  time,  while 
etherizing  it,  the  bottle  of  ether  was  overturned  and  shattered,  and, 
soaking  some  linen  in  the  contents  of  the  broken  bottle.  Dr.  Morton 
applied  it  to  the  dog's  nostrils  with  the  result  that  unconsciousness 
followed  immediately.  After  that,  he  began  to  comb  the  wharves  for 
victims  for  experiments,  often  paying  liberally  a  man  who  was  willing 
to  submit  to  etherization.  He  successfully  extracted  several  teeth,  and 
finally  asked  the  senior  surgeon  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital 
if  he  might  not  make  a  demonstration  there.  A  patient — Gilbert  Abbott 
— was  suffering  from  a  tumor  of  the  jaw,  and  Dr.  Morton  was  allowed 
to  etherize  him.  The  operation,  performed  on  that  memorable  day  in 
October,  1846,  was  successful,  and  elicited  from  the  senior  surgeon  the 
statement,  "(Gentlemen,  this  is  no  humbug." 

When  the  world  was  informed  of  the  wonderful  discovery,  Dr.  Charles 
T.  Jackson,  a  chemist,  demanded  that  he  share  in  the  profits.  The 
controversy  that  ensued  between  these  two  men  was  long  and  bitter. 
Dr.  Morton  tried  repeatedly  to  get  his  invention  patented.  He  was  a 
poor  man  and  could  ill  afford  the  losses  that  came  to  him.  The  Hospital 
gave  him  i5i,ooo,  and  elsewhere  about  ^600  came  in.  But  he  figured 
that  he  had  expended  }5l 87,561.  Some  wit  of  the  day  suggested  that 
the  two  doctors  fight  out  their  fight  with  ether  bottles  and  that  the  one 
who  retained  consciousness  the  longer  be  declared  the  victor.     As  the 

54 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

years  passed,  several  times  a  bill  appropriating  to  Dr.  Morton  $100,000 
was  nearly  passed  by  Congress. 

The  last  years  of  Dr.  Morton's  life  were  passed  in  Wellesley,  Massa- 
chusetts, at  "Etherton, "  on  the  site  of  which  to-day  stands  a  part  of  the 
Wellesley  Public  Library.  His  death  from  apoplexy  occurred  in  Central 
Park,  New  York,  in  1868.  Each  year,  on  the  anniversary  of  his  dis- 
covery, exercises  arc  held  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  Dr. 
Morton's  name  has  recently  been  enrolled  in  the  Hall  of  Fame,  at  New 
York  University. 

ELI   THAYER 

Eclucalur,  Legislator,  Inventor,  Originator  of  the  ^^ Kansas  Crusade" 
iSig-gg 

In  his  youth  Eli  Thayer  worked  in  his  father's  store  in  Mendon,  Alassa- 
chusetts.  Here  he  was  born,  June  11,  1819.  Not  proving  a  success  as 
a  store  clerk,  he  worked  as  a  farm  hand  until  an  opportunity  came  to 
prepare  for  college  in  Worcester,  whither  he  went,  walking  the  entire 
distance  from  his  home  town.  After  a  year's  study  he  presented  himself 
at  Brown  University  in  Providence,  acknowledging  that  he  knew  neither 
Latin  nor  Greek,  but  that  if  he  were  admitted  he  would  "make  up" 
these  studies.  He  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  when  he  was  examined 
at  the  end  of  a  given  period,  he  proved  deficient  only  in  mathematics. 
He  earned  his  way  through  college,  doing  odd  jobs,  and  during  his  course 
worked  as  carpenter,  wood-sawyer,  and  landscape  gardener.  So  frugally 
did  he  live  that  by  the  time  he  graduated  he  had  saved  several  hundred 
dollars. 

In  1847,  having  served  for  two  years  as  an  assistant  at  what  is  now 
Worcester  Academy,  he  was  elected  principal  of  this  institution,  where 
he  remained  until  1849.  At  this  time  he  conceived  the  plan  of  establish- 
ing a  girls'  school.  He  built  on  Goat  Hill  a  castle-like  structure  that  in 
its  day  was  called  "Thayer's  Folly,"  but  which  is  now  known  as  Oread 
Castle.  At  the  time  when  his  enterprise  assumed  every  evidence  of 
success,  Mr.  Thayer  became  interested  in  political  life.  He  also  gave 
much  time  to  the  development  of  Worcester  real  estate.  He  studied 
law,  became  a  member  of  the  School  Committee,  an  Alderman,  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  a  member  of  Congress,  and  a  delegate 
from  Oregon  to  the  National  Republican  Convention  in  i860.  His  inven- 
tions at  this  time  were  numerous,  and  among  them  was  a  sectional  safety 
steam  boiler,  an  automatic  boiler  cleanser,  and  a  hydraulic  elevator. 
The  latter  proved  so  successful  that  Mr.  Thayer  was  for  some  time  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  elevators. 

It  was  Eli  Thayer  who,  after  securing  private  co-operation,  proclaimed 
at  City  Hall  in  Worcester,  March  11,  1854,  that  Kansas  should  be  made 
an  anti-slavery  State.  He  foresaw  the  danger  of  Kansas  going  over  to 
the  South,  and  hence  he  established  in  New  England  the  Emigrant  Aid 
Society,  an  organization  which  was  given  publicity  by  Edward  Everett 
Hale  and  Horace  Greeley.  In  1861  Kansas  was  admitted  as  a  free  State. 
Contemporary  with  this  movement,  Mr.  Thayer  furthered  the  "friendly 
invasion"  of  West  Virginia  with  free  State  settlers.  He  founded  there 
the  town  of  Ceredo,  spending  $118,000  in  its  development.  In  memory 
of  his  part  in  the  Kansas  crusade  there  was  placed  some  years  ago  a  marble 
bust  of  Mr.  Thayer  in  the  State  House  at  Topeka.     Mr.  Thayer  visited 

55 


I.    Eli  Thayer 
2.  Charles  Dcvens     3.  Andrew  Haswell  Green 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 


Kansas  in  1877,  where  he  was  invited  to  address  a  meeting  of  old  settlers. 
He  was  given  a  royal  welcome  during  this  his  first  and  only  visit  to  the 
State  he  had  so  vigorously  fostered.  "I  would  rather,"  asserted  Charles 
Sumner,  "accomplish  what  Eli  Thayer  has  done  than  have  won  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans." 

Mr.  Thayer's  last  days  were  spent  in  Worcester,  where  he  died,  April 
15,  1899.  The  services  for  him  were  conducted  in  the  great  stone  castle 
he  had  built  more  than  thirty  years  before  on  Mount  Oread. 


CHARLES   DEVENS 

Soldier,  Orator,  Jurist 

l820-()I 

In  a  memoir  of  General  Devens,  Senator  George  Frisbie  Hoar  has  said: 
"To  draw  an  adequate  portraiture  of  Charles  Devens  would  require  the 
noble  touch  of  the  old  masters  of  painting  or  the  lofty  stroke  of  the  dra- 
matists of  Queen  Elizabeth's  day."  Senator  Hoar  probably  had  in  mind 
when  he  uttered  these  words  Devens's  appeal  to  the  citizens  of  Worcester 
on  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  when  he  left  the  case  he  was  trying  in 
the  court-room,  offered  himself  as  a  volunteer,  and  then  stirred  others  to 
do  the  same;  also  Senator  Hoar  may  have  thought  of  General  Devens 
on  the  battlefield,  or  of  his  entr>^  into  Richmond  in  1865,  leading  the  first 
Union  troops  to  raise  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  the  Southern  capital. 

Charles  Devens  was  born  in  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  April  4,  1820. 
After  attending  the  Boston  Latin  School,  he  entered  Harvard  College  in 
the  class  of  1838,  among  the  members  of  which  were  William  W.  Story, 
who  later  became  a  noted  sculptor,  and  James  Russell  Lowell.  After 
receiving  the  degree  of  LL.B.  at  the  Harvard  Law  School  in  1840,  Devens 
studied  law  in  the  offices  of  Hubbard  and  Watts  of  Boston,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1844.  The  next  decade  he  practised  law  in 
Northfield  and  Greenfield,  served  as  State  Senator  from  Franklin  County, 
and  as  United  States  Marshal  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts.  He  re- 
ceived the  latter  appointment  in  1849,  under  President  Taylor,  and  dur- 
ing his  four  years  of  service  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  was  passed,  and  Gen- 
eral Devens  was  obliged  to  return  to  slavery  Sims  who  had  escaped  from 
Georgia.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  so  distasteful  to  him  was  this  action, 
that  afterwards  General  Devens  offered  to  furnish  the  whole  sum  of 
money  necessary  to  purchase  Sims's  freedom. 

In  1854  General  Devens  removed  to  Worcester,  where  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  George  Frisbie  Hoar  and  J.  Henry  Hill.  In  1856  he 
was  chosen  City  Solicitor  of  Worcester,  an  office  which  he  held  for  several 
years.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  Charles  Devens 
was  nearly  forty-two  years  old.  For  months  before  war  was  declared 
he  had  kept  in  close  touch  with  events  and  was  well  informed  concerning 
the  conspiracy  of  the  Southern  factions,  and  his  mind  was  filled  with 
the  conflict  that  he  knew  was  to  come.  When  the  news  was  flashed 
to  Worcester  in  April,  1861,  he  asked  a  lawyer  to  take  charge  of  the 
case  he  was  trying,  and  he  immediately  offered  his  services  to  President 
Lincoln.  Thousands  crowded  Mechanics  Hall  in  Worcester  the  night  of 
April  16,  when  Charles  Devens  dramatically  pleaded  that  they  hear  the 
call  of  their  country.     Devens  was  chosen  Major  of  the  Third  Battalion 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &   ITS    COUNTY 

of  Rifles  and  departed  with  his  men  to  Fort  McHenry,  Maryland.  Later 
Governor  Andrew  appointed  him  to  command  the  Fifteenth  Regiment 
of  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  then  in  camp  in  Maryland,  and  destined 
to  serve  as  a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

From  the  first,  General  Devens  shared  the  lot  of  his  men,  often  endur- 
ing exposure  and  privation  to  the  detriment  of  his  health.  "Why, 
Walker,"  exclaimed  one  of  his  men,  "what  a  beautiful  man  he  is!  There 
we  lay  together  on  the  ground,  the  night  so  dark  that  we  could  not  see 
each  other,  the  mud  so  deep  as  almost  to  take  a  cast  of  our  forms,  the 
water  at  times  fairly  running  over  us,  hungry,  wet,  and  dirty,  and  yet 
he  talked  on  in  that  courtly,  quaint  voice  of  his,  saying  the  most  delight- 
ful things,  witty  and  graceful  and  fine,  just  as  he  might  have  done  at  a 
dinner-table  or  in  a  drawing-room.  Certainly,  he  is  the  most  perfect 
gentleman  I  ever  met." 

The  Fifteenth  Massachusetts  fought  at  Ball's  Bluff,  where  disaster  and 
defeat  seemed  imminent.  When  hope  had  all  but  gone  General  Devens 
threw  his  sword  into  the  river,  swam  to  the  other  side,  and  there  collected 
the  remnants  of  his  regiment.  For  his  bravery  and  coolness  on  this 
occasion  the  leader  was  commended  and  appointed  a  brigadier-general  of 
volunteers.  He  engaged  in  the  fight  at  Chickahominy  Bridge,  where 
though  severely  wounded  he  stayed  on  the  field  until  the  last  gun  was 
fired.  He  fought  at  Fredericksburg  and  at  Chancellorsville.  In  the  lat- 
ter fight  he  was  again  wounded.  In  1864  he  was  disabled  because  of 
rheumatism,  but  remained  on  duty,  being  carried  from  one  point  to  an- 
other on  a  stretcher.  Later  he  took  part  in  the  campaign  against  Rich- 
mond, into  which  city,  on  April  3,  1865,  he  led  the  first  Federal  troops. 
He  was  in  command  of  the  Confederate  capital  until  after  the  surrender. 
In  1866  General  Devens  was  mustered  out  of  service. 

After  returning  to  Worcester,  General  Devens  was  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Alexander  H.  Bullock  to  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts; he  was  promoted  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court, 
served  as  Attorney-General  in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Hayes,  received 
in  1877  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Harvard,  was  appointed  to  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  became  a  distinguished  orator. 
General  Devens's  death  occurred  January  7,  1891.  An  event  in  which 
members  of  his  regiment  participated  was  the  unveiling  of  the  equestrian 
statue  of  General  Devens  and  of  the  monument  to  the  soldiers  of  Worces- 
ter County  in  the  War  for  the  Union,  in  front  of  the  Court  House  at 
W^orcestcr,  July  4,  1906.  The  present  Camp  Devens,  at  Ayer,  was  named 
after  him. 

ANDREW  HASWELL  GREEN 

Father  of  Grcolcr  Xezv  York 

The  idea  of  a  Greater  New  York  originated  in  the  mind  of  a  Worcester 
young  man  who  for  many  years  adhered  to  his  dream  and  worked  out 
plans  for  which  he  was  the  only  champion.  There  seems  to  have  been 
given  the  prophetic  vision  of  the  seer  to  Andrew  Haswell  Green,  for  his 
dream  of  a  Greater  New  York  when  it  did  come  true  was  exactly  as  he 
had  pictured  it  since  Civil  War  days. 

The  Father  of  (jreater  New  York — for  such  is  he  known  to-day — was 
the  grandson  of  Dr.  John  Green  2d,  and  a  well-known  Worcester  physician. 

58 


FORTY    IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

He  was  born  at  Green  Hill,  Worcester,  October  6,  1820,  attended  Worces- 
ter Academy,  fitted  himself  for  West  Point,  and  finally  entered  the 
service  of  a  New  York  City  mercantile  house.  After  making  a  trip  to 
the  West  Indies  as  a  representative  of  the  firm  that  employed  him,  Mr. 
Green  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Samuel  J.  Tildcn,  whose 
partner  he  eventually  became.  Mr.  Green  was  instrumental  many  years 
later  in  securing  for  the  City  of  New  York  the  famous  Tilden  library. 
His  first  active  participation  in  public  affairs  in  New  York  appears  to 
have  begun  with  his  appointment  as  School  Commissioner  on  May  13, 
1848.  There  ensued  nearly  half  a  century  of  public  service.  In  1856 
Mr.  Green  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education.  His  enthu- 
siasm for  New  York  is  voiced  in  a  speech  delivered  at  that  time.  "Though 
we  shall  not  all  again  assemble  here,"  he  said  as  he  bade  farewell  to  some 
of  his  associates,  "yet  we  are  all  citizens  of  a  great  city,  whose  glory  is 
our  pride,  and  as  we  meet  hereafter  in  our  busy  streets  the  sympathies 
here  implanted  will  kindle  at  the  remembrance  of  common  exertions  for 
the  diffusion  of  that  intelligence  and  virtue  which  through  all  times  will 
avail  more  for  her  extension,  adornment,  and  security  than  all  the  walls 
of  masonry  or  gates  of  brass." 

In  1858,  when  Mr.  Green  was  appointed  a  Commissioner  of  Central 
Park, — an  office  created  for  him,  involving  the  executive  management 
of  the  Park, — he  set  forth  his  ideas  concerning  the  laying  out  of  the  north 
end  of  Manhattan,  and  the  surveying  of  the  lower  part  of  West  Chester 
County.  This  was  but  the  beginning  of  the  vast  undertakings  that 
Mr.  Green  made  to  consolidate  a  Greater  New  York.  Bridges  built 
under  his  direction  spanned  the  Harlem  River  and  others;  lands  in  the 
vicinity  of  Eighth  Avenue  and  i5Sth  Street  were  laid  out;  definite  plans 
were  presented  by  Mr.  Green  for  drives  and  boulevards  and  parks.  His 
energy  was  unceasing,  his  foresight  remarkable.  The  northern  end 
of  the  city  was  laid  out.  Washington  Bridge  that  spanned  the  Harlem 
has  been  denominated  a  monument  to  his  memory.  In  1871,  when  Mr. 
Green  was  elected  Comptroller  of  the  City,  he  found  the  finances  in  great 
confusion.  On  his  own  responsibility  he  raised  half  a  million  by  apply- 
ing to  various  banks,  with  the  result  that  he  re-established  the  credit  of 
the  city,  and  helped  to  quash  the  famous  Tweed  Ring. 

In  1880  he  was  made  one  of  a  commission  to  revise  the  tax  laws.  In 
1890  he  was  appointed  by  a  special  act  of  the  Legislature  to  plan  for  the 
North  River  Bridge.  The  latter  years  also  mark  his  public  espousal  of 
a  Greater  New  York  and  the  beginning  of  the  process  of  municipal  con- 
solidation. For  seven  years  Mr.  Green  aimed  to  disarm  opposition  to 
his  plan.  The  struggle  occurred  on  practically  every  side — between  the 
Legislature  and  the  people,  between  the  press  and  the  pulpit.  Mr.  Green 
was  frequently  bitterly  attacked  for  his  stand.  When  the  consolidation 
had  taken  effect  in  January,  1898,  a  number  of  public-spirited  citizens 
met  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  and  there  made  plans  to  celebrate  the 
event  on  the  following  May  4th, — the  anniversary  of  the  founding  of 
New  Amsterdam.  On  this  occasion  General  Stewart  L.  Woodford  spoke 
of  Mr.  Green  as  the  Father  of  Greater  New  York,  and  General  James 
Grant  presented  to  Mr.  Green  a  gold  medal  commemorating  his  services 
on  behalf  of  the  city. 

The  work  of  the  Father  of  Greater  New  York,  after  thirty  years  of 
constant  effort,  was  but  begun.  He  was  influential  in  planning  for  the 
Zoological  Gardens,  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  and  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History.     To  his  native  city — Worcester — Mr.  Green  gave  a 

59 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 


library  and  a  hospital.  Green  Hill  Park,  containing  five  hundred  acres, 
is  a  daily  reminder  of  the  generosity  of  this  great  son  of  Worcester.  The 
life  of  Mr.  Green  was  cut  short  suddenly  on  November  13,  1903,  when 
an  insane  negro,  mistaking  him  for  one  who  had  wronged  him,  shot  him 
near  his  New  York  City  home. 

His  remains  were  brought  to  the  rural  cemetery  in  Worcester,  where 
recently,  on  October  6,  1920,  was  observed  the  one  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  his  birth.  Mayor  Peter  F.  Sullivan,  on  this  occasion,  after  plac- 
ing a  wreath  on  Andrew  Green's  grave,  said  in  part:  "He  spread  the  name 
of  his  native  city  through  his  great  work  in  fostering  the  plan  for  Greater 
New  York.  We  are  gathered  here  to-day  to  balance  in  a  measure  his 
efforts  on  behalf  of  Worcester,  and  to  let  the  Nation,  and  Greater  New 
York  especially,  know  that  the  Heart  of  the  Commonwealth  produces 
and  has  produced  some  of  the  greatest  characters  in  these  United  States." 


CLARA  BARTON 

founder  of  the  American  Red  Cross 
1821-IQ12 

America's  foremost  woman — the  "Angel  of  the  Battlefield" — was  born 
in  Oxford,  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  on  Christmas  Day,  1821. 
For  half  a  century  she  was  the  world's  leading  figure  in  relieving  the 
suffering  of  the  thousands  who  fought  on  the  fields  of  battle.  She  be- 
came the  friend  and  counsellor  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant, 
of  James  A.  Garfield,  of  Hayes,  Harrison,  Cleveland,  and  McKinley. 
From  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  she  received  homage  that  royalty 
might  envy.  When,  according  to  the  custom,  she  bent  to  kiss  the  hand 
of  the  Czar  of  Russia,  he  quickly  raised  his  hand  and  said,  "Nay,  Miss 
Barton,  not  that  from  you!"  Clara  Barton  was  perhaps  the  most  per- 
fect incarnation  of  mercy  that  the  modern  world  has  known,  and  the 
founder  of  the  greatest  humanitarian  movement  in  the  history  of  nations. 

Preceded  by  the  scarlet  cross,  Clara  Barton  went  to  Washington  during 
the  Civil  War  and  there — the  first  woman  to  render  aid  to  the  Union 
soldiers — visited  the  hospitals  and  brought  relief  to  the  wounded.  Day 
after  day  she  went  down  to  the  wharves,  where,  with  the  mud  and  gore 
of  Chickahominy  still  clinging  to  them,  were  brought  the  boys  in  blue 
and  in  gray.  Then  came  the  eventful  Sunday  in  September,  1862,  when 
she  loaded  an  army  wagon  with  supplies  arid  started  out  alone  in  the 
wake  of  General  McClellan's  army.  She  caught  up  with  McClellan  at 
Antietam  and  took  her  place  in  the  swift  train  of  artillery.  At  a  large 
barn  near  a  cornfield  close  to  the  battle-line  she  made  her  headquarters, 
where  the  Confederate  shells  fell  thick  and  fast,  and  the  cornfield  was 
filled  with  wounded.  The  army  surgeons  ran  out  of  dressings,  and 
endeavored  to  make  corn-husks  do.  It  was  then  that  Miss  Barton 
opened  her  supply-case  and  brought  out  what  was  needed.  "I  have 
everything,"  was  her  quiet  remark.  She  rounded  up  twenty-five  men  who 
had  come  to  the  rear  with  the  wounded  and  set  them  to  work  administer- 
ing restoratives.  When  her  bread  and  broth  were  spent,  she  used  a  liquor 
supply  that  she  carried.  Darkness  fell  over  the  bloody  field  of  battle, 
and   still   men   remained  who   had   not  been   relieved.     "Five   hundred 

61 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

men,"  cried  the  head  surgeon,  dropping  his  head  on  his  arms,  "will  die 
before  daybreak  unless  they  have  attention,  and  I  have  no  lights!" 

"Get  up,  doctor,"  said  Miss  Barton.  "I  have  brought  plenty  of 
lanterns  this  time.  The  men  will  be  here  in  a  few  minutes  to  light  the 
house.  You  will  have  abundance  of  light  and  all  the  help  you  want." 
And  she  led  him  to  the  door  and  showed  him  how  she  had  arranged  lanterns 
for  the  work  that  lay  before  them.  So  the  candles  of  her  love  and  pity 
lighted  the  blood-stained  fields  of  Antietam  and  Fredericksburg.  It 
has  been  said  that  she  bore  a  charmed  life,  for  though  her  clothing  was 
often  grazed  she  was  never  wounded.  At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  she 
organized  the  bureau  to  locate  missing  men  or  find  their  burial  places. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  Miss  Barton  went  abroad, 
where  she  aided  in  caring  for  the  wounded,  and  where  afterwards  she 
received  many  decorations  and  recognitions  of  her  services.  The  Grand 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Baden,  the  Queens  of  Serbia,  Italy,  and  England, 
the  Empress  of  Germany,  and  the  Prince  of  Jerusalem  all  joined  in  their 
thanks  for  her  devotion  to  the  wounded.  During  the  summer  of  1877 
Miss  Barton  endeavored  to  get  the  Red  Cross  convention  signed  by  the 
Government,  but  it  was  not  until  1881  that  she  succeeded.  In  May  of 
that  year  the  American  Association  of  the  Red  Cross  was  formed,  and 
President  Garfield  made  her  president  for  life.  She  continued  in  this 
office  until  1904,  when  President  Roosevelt  conceived  the  idea  of  making 
the  Red  Cross  a  military  branch  of  the  Government.  It  was  then  that 
Miss  Barton  resigned.  In  1892  she  sent  representatives  to  Russia  where, 
following  her  experiences  in  alleviating  suffering  during  the  Johnstown 
flood,  she  helped  to  relieve  the  famine.  In  1896  she  aided  Armenia 
after  Turkish  ravages.  After  the  battle  of  Santiago  was  fought  in  1898 
the  entire  American  Navy  made  way  for  her  relief  ship.  In  command  of 
this  first  ship  to  enter  the  harbor  after  the  capture  of  Santiago,  Miss 
Barton  entered  the  town  with  food  and  other  necessities.  Her  last  work 
of  national  importance  was  in  connection  with  the  Galveston  fiood  of 
1900. 

She  lived  to  be  ninety  years  old.  And  from  her  home  overlooking  the 
fair  Potomac  she  passed  her  last  years — a  shadowy  figure  that  moved 
through  the  gardens  of  Glen  Echo,  a  pitying  sweetness  in  her  eyes, 
and  a  frequent  word  of  forgiveness  to  the  Nation  that  had  taken  from 
her  the  staff  that  had  borne  aloft  for  more  than  a  half-century  the  banner 
of  the  Red  Cross.  A  slight  stoop  was  evident  in  the  shoulders  that  had 
bent  above  so  many  sick-beds,  but  the  fine  dark  hair,  save  for  silver  lights 
above  the  ears,  remained  dark  to  the  end.  Miss  Barton  died  at  Glen 
Echo,  April  12,  1912.  There  was  in  that  year  considerable  dissatisfac- 
tion that  her  remains  were  not  interred  in  the  National  Cemetery  at 
Arlington,  but  Oxford  received  the  body  and  did  it  great  homage — as 
did  all  the  world. 

i:i3WARD   EVERETT   HALE 

Clergyman  and  .iiilhor 

Edward  I'-vcrctt  Hale  spent  an  important  decade  of  his  life  in  Worcester, 
where  in  1846  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry,  became  pastor  of  the 
newly  founded  Church  of  the  Unity,  and  remained  there  until  1856. 
He  had  previously  spent  a  winter  in  Washington,  where  he  preached. 

62 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

After  his  resignation  from  the  Worcester  church  he  became  pastor  of  the 
South  Congregational  Church  of  Boston,  serving  as  minister  and  minister- 
emeritus  until  his  death.  Samuel  Bowles  once  said  that  they  had  spoiled 
the  best  newspaper  man  of  his  day  by  making  a  minister  of  Edward  Hale, 
and  Dr.  Hale  himself  was  wont  to  claim  that  he  was  cradled  in  the  Boston 
Advertiser,  owned  by  his  father,  a  newspaper  on  which  he  had  served  in 
every  department  from  typesetting  to  the  editorial  chair. 

He  was  born  in  Boston,  April  3,  1822,  his  father  being  a  leading  Boston 
citizen,  and  an  authority  on  financial  affairs,  as  well  as  a  promoter  of 
the  first  railroads  in  America.  Edward  Hale  entered  the  Boston  Latin 
School  when  he  was  nine  years  old,  and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  entered 
Harvard.  For  a  time  after  his  graduation  from  college  he  taught  at  the 
Boston  Latin  School  and  worked  on  his  father's  paper,  devoting  his  spare 
time  to  studying  for  the  ministry. 

During  the  decade  spent  by  Dr.  Hale  in  Worcester  he  interested  him- 
self in  the  great  public  movements  of  the  day.  He  was  a  promoter  of 
the  Kansas  Crusade;  he  advocated  the  Civil  Service  Reform  for  several 
years  before  it  became  a  law;  he  was  among  the  pioneer  champions  for 
the  establishing  of  an  international  court  to  insure  world  peace.  The 
immigrant,  the  negro,  and  the  Indian,  all  found  a  friend  in  Edward 
Everett  Hale.  His  Worcester  connections  were  many,  and  friendships 
made  there  were  cherished  as  long  as  he  lived.  Senator  George  Frisbie 
Hoar,  then  just  settled  in  Worcester,  was  among  this  number. 

While  in  Worcester,  Dr.  Hale,  until  he  established  his  own  home,  lived 
with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moses  Phillips.  When  Dr.  Hale  was  asked  to  serve  on 
the  School  Committee  of  Worcester,  he  replied  that  he  had  far  rather 
serve  on  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  the  Poor — and  was  given  a  place  on 
that  board.  This  demonstrates  his  interest  in  those  less  fortunate — an 
interest  that  was  ever  close  to  him.  Dr.  Hale  was  a  member  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society  for  upwards  of  seventy  years — until  his 
death.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Natural  History  Society  and 
the  Worcester  Public  Library. 

In  addition  to  his  work  as  minister  Dr.  Hale  edited  the  Christian 
Examiner  and  the  Sunday  School  Gazette.  A  list  of  the  special  articles 
written  by  him  for  magazines  would  fill  a  small  volume.  In  the  world 
of  authors  he  is  best  known  by  "The  Man  Without  a  Country,"  though 
Dr.  Hale  wished  that  "In  His  Name"  might  represent  him,  as  he  felt  that 
it  more  fully  expressed  what  he  had  to  say  to  the  world.  By  others, 
"Ten  Times  One"  is  considered  a  more  characteristic  work  than  either. 
The  plan  of  this  story  was  in  his  mind  while  he  was  a  minister  in  Worces- 
ter, and  was  later  developed,  when,  convinced  that  thousands  of  individ- 
uals could  work  together  for  the  good  of  the  world,  Dr.  Hale  founded 
the  "Lend  a  Hand"  movement,  which  later  became  world-wide  in  its 
influence.  The  idea  had  been  in  his  mind  for  many  years.  The  move- 
ment was  started  in  1870,  organized  informally  in  1886,  and  incorporated 
in  1891.  The  motto  adopted  by  this  society  became  a  well-known 
slogan: — 

"Look  up  and  not  down, 
Look  forward  and  not  back, 
Look  out  and  not  in,  and 
Lend  a  hand!" 

Dr.  Hale's  long  and  fruitful  career  in  public  service  was  relieved  by 
frequent  trips  abroad.     In  1898  he  resigned  his  pastorate  of  the  South 

63 


I.    Edward  Everett  Hale 
2.  Russell  L.  Hawes       .1.  George  Crompton 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  oj  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 


Congregational  Church  of  Boston,  and  as  It  was  his  habit  to  spend  a  part 
of  each  winter  in  Washington  he  accepted  the  office  of  Chaplain  of  the 
Senate,  his  friend  Senator  Hoar  having  long  urged  him  to  serve  in  this 
capacity.  In  1909  he  returned  to  his  Highland  Street  home  in  Roxbury, 
Massachusetts,  and  there  during  the  spring  and  early  summer  days  he 
wrote  and  received  his  friends.  His  death  occurred  June  10,  1909,  at 
the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven  years. 


RUSSELL  L.  HAWES 

Inventor 
1823-67 

Dr.  Russell  L.  Hawes,  who  revolutionized  the  manufacture  of  envelopes 
in  America,  was  born  in  Leominster,  Massachusetts,  March  22,  1823. 
In  his  youth,  unlike  Eli  Whitney,  he  displayed  no  decided  mechanical 
genius,  so  it  was  decided  that  he  should  take  up  some  profession.  Medi- 
cine was  chosen,  and  Dr.  Hawes  was  graduated  from  the  Harvard  Medical 
School  in  1845.  He  began  practice  in  Worcester,  and  became  almost 
immediately  interested  in  the  envelope  industry — then  in  its  infancy. 
Dr.  Hawes  entered  the  employ  of  Goddard,  Rice  and  Company,  Worces- 
ter manufacturers  of  paper-making  machinery.  Desiring  to  perfect  his 
plan  for  an  envelope-making  machine,  Dr.  Hawes  visited  New  York  and 
there  saw  what  were  said  to  be  the  first  hand-made  envelopes  made  in 
this  country,  an  accomplishment  credited  to  Karcheski,  a  Pole,  said  to 
be  the  first  to  make  hand-made  envelopes  here. 

Dr.  Hawes  represented  his  company  abroad,  and  while  in  Europe  saw 
an  envelope-folding  machine  in  operation.  On  his  return  to  Worcester 
he  built  the  first  practical  commercial  envelope-folding  machine,  a  patent 
(the  third  of  its  kind  issued  in  America)  for  which  was  issued  January 
21,  1853.  The  output  of  this  machine  was  sold  to  Jonathan  Grout,  a 
Worcester  paper  and  stationery  dealer.  The  inventor  established  an 
envelope  factory  of  his  own  on  Grafton  Street.  He  felt  that  he  had 
reached  the  maximum  speed  when  his  machine  turned  out  daily  from 
10,000  to  12,500  envelopes,  but,  as  Colonel  James  Logan  in  his  admirable 
"Story  of  the  Envelope"  has  pointed  out,  Dr.  Hawes  could  not  foresee 
the  time  that  the  self-gumming  plunger  folding  machines  could  turn  out 
nearly  the  first  number  of  envelopes  per  hour,  nor  could  Dr.  Hawes, 
feeling  that  his  machine  had  reached  this  maximum  product,  foresee 
that  a  half-century  later  more  envelopes  would  be  manufactured  in 
Worcester  than  in  any  other  city  in  the  world.  In  1857  Dr.  Hawes  sold 
his  business  to  Hartshorn  and  Trumbull,  who  in  the  early  sixties  was 
succeeded  by  Trumbull,  Waters  and  Company,  in  1866  by  Hill,  Devoe 
and  Company,  in  1892  by  the  W.  H.  Hill  Envelope  Company,  and  in  1898 
by  the  W.  H.  Hill  Envelope  Company,  Division  United  States  Envelope 
Company. 

Many  other  inventions  were  made  by  Dr.  Hawes,  among  them  a  print- 
ing-press, a  wrygler  used  in  woollen  manufacture,  a  machine  for  making 
paper  bags  and  one  for  the  printing  of  wall-paper.  His  inventions  and 
improvements  had  a  marked  influence  on  the  industries  of  Worcester, 
and  from  them  he  amassed  what  was  then  considered  a  large  fortune. 
During  the  later  years  of  his  life  Dr.  Hawes  took  an  active  part  in  the 

65 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

public  affairs  of  Worcester  where  he  engaged  in  woollen  manufacture. 
His  health  failed  in  1867  and  he  went  abroad.  His  death  occurred  in 
Nice,  France,  February  20,  1867. 

"He  had  two  qualities,"  says  one  tribute  to  his  genius,  "which  are 
seldom  given  by  God  to  the  same  man,  the  mechanical  head  and  the 
financial  instinct," — a  genius  that  appears  to  be  typical  of  Worcester 
County,  for  it  is  said  more  remunerative  inventions  have  been  made 
here  than  in  any  other  county  in  the  United  States. 


GEORGE   FRISBIE  HOAR 

Senator  of  the  United  States,  iSjj-igo^ 
1 8 26- 1  go ^ 

For  more  than  half  a  century  George  Frisbie  Hoar  lived  in  Worcester, 
where  he  began  the  practice  of  law  and  achieved  fame  in  his  profession. 
For  many  years  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  bar  in  Worcester  County. 
Worcester  was  his  chosen  home,  but  Concord,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
was  born,  August  29,  1826,  was  ever  a  dear  spot  to  him. 

"My  grandfather,"  he  was  wont  to  say,  "and  two  great-grandfathers 
and  three  of  my  father's  uncles  were  at  Concord  in  the  Lincoln  company, 
of  which  my  grandfather,  Samuel  Hoar,  whom  I  well  remember,  was 
Lieutenant,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775."  His  mother,  then  a  child,  sat 
on  the  knees  of  Washington,  and  her  father,  Roger  Sherman,  is  said  to  be 
the  only  American  whose  name  was  signed  to  the  four  great  state  papers: 
the  Association  of  1774,  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Said  the 
philosopher  of  Concord,  "We  are  quotations  from  our  ancestors."  Such 
was  George  Frisbie  Hoar!  His  life  is  well  set  forth  in  the  inscription  on 
one  side  of  the  pedestal  of  his  statue  which  stands  to-day  on  the  green 
in  front  of  the  City  Hall  at  Worcester: — 

"I  believe  in  God,  the  living  God,  in  the  American  people,  a  free  and 
brave  people,  who  do  not  bow  the  neck  or  bend  the  knee  to  any  other, 
and  who  desire  no  other  to  bow  the  neck  or  bend  the  knee  to  them.  I 
believe  that  liberty,  good  government,  free  institutions,  cannot  be  given 
by  any  one  people  to  any  other,  but  must  be  wrought  out  for  each  by 
itself,  slowly,  painfully,  in  the  process  of  years  or  centuries,  as  the  oak 
adds  ring  to  ring.  I  believe  that,  whatever  clouds  may  darken  the  horizon, 
the  world  is  growing  better,  that  to-day  is  better  than  yesterday,  and 
to-morrow  will  be  better  than  to-day." 

It  has  been  said  that  the  youth  of  George  Frisbie  Hoar  gave  promise 
of  no  great  things.  He  was  reared  in  an  atmosphere  of  culture,  and  was 
neither  spoiled  by  luxury  nor  embittered  by  poverty.  He  was  gradu- 
ated from  Harvard  University,  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  in  1847  cast  his 
first  vote  for  the  Whig  candidate  for  Governor.  Three  years  later,  when 
the  Free  Soil  party,  afterwards  the  Republican  Party,  was  in  its  infancy, 
Mr.  Hoar  made  his  first  speech  in  the  City  Hall  at  Worcester  in  its  sup- 
port, and  later,  during  his  service  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  acted 
as  a  leader  oi  the  cause.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Hfjusc  of  Representatives  in  1852,  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate 
in  1857;  City  Solicitor  of  Worcester  in  i860;  member  of  the  United 
Slates  House  of  Representatives  in    1869,  serving  until   1877,  when  he 

66 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &  ITS    COUNTY 

was  elected  Senator  of  the  United  States — a  service  which  he  gave  from 
the  year  of  his  election  until  his  death  in  1904. 

Senator  Hoar  was  a  great  lawyer,  a  great  orator,  and  a  great  debater. 
His  speeches  are  masterpieces  of  English.  His  humor  is  subtle;  the  spir- 
itual touch  in  everything  that  he  said  and  did  was  always  apparent.  He 
was  saturated  with  the  classics.  On  being  asked  how  to  study  oratory, 
Senator  Hoar  responded,  "Read  the  Greek  orations."  His  own  speeches 
show  how  great  an  influence  the  classics  had  in  the  formation  of  his  style 
of  expression.  "Sir,"  said  a  contemporary,  "Massachusetts  has  never 
been  more  powerfully  represented  in  the  Senate,  not  even  in  the  time  of 
Daniel  Webster,  than  by  Mr.  Hoar." 


GEORGE   CROMPTOX 

Inventor 
1S2Q-S6 

George  Crompton  was  fortunate  in  inheriting  from  his  father  an  in- 
ventive genius — a  gift  that  he  used  to  advantage  in  perfecting  the  loom 
invented  by  William  Crompton,  who,  after  pursuing  his  manufacturing 
interests  for  several  years,  succumbed  to  a  fatal  malady  and  left  his  son 
George,  then  nearly  of  age,  to  carry  on  the  business.  Mr.  Crompton  was 
born  in  England,  March  23,  1829.  He  came  to  America  at  the  age  of 
ten  years,  attended  private  schools,  and  completed  his  education  at 
Millbury  Academy.  A  year  after  the  elder  Crompton  came  to  America 
he  invented  his  famous  loom  in  response  to  the  needs  of  his  employers  at 
Taunton,  where  he  was  asked  to  weave  certain  patterns  in  1837,  and  while 
he  never  manufactured  the  loom  himself,  the  right  to  do  so  was  sold  to 
a  firm,  and  the  looms  were  successfully  introduced  throughout  the  coun- 
try into  cotton  manufactories.  This  when  improved  by  the  younger 
Crompton  was  the  first  loom  upon  which  fancy  cashmeres  were  woven  by 
power.  The  latest  models  are  the  fastest  looms  built,  and  on  them  light 
fabrics  are  woven  at  great  speed. 

After  having  had  some  experience  as  a  book-keeper,  salesman,  and 
maker  of  pistols,  George  Crompton  went  to  Washington  and  secured  an 
extension  of  his  father's  patent.  Owing  to  his  father's  failure  he  was 
without  capital,  but  he  returned  to  Worcester  and  with  Merrill  E.  Fur- 
bush  began  to  manufacture  looms.  Just  as  the  business  began  to  pros- 
per, the  fire  of  1854  destroyed  the  buildings  and  swept  away  all  of  Mr. 
Crompton's  property.  He  was  advised  at  this  time  to  go  into  bank- 
ruptcy, but  this  he  refused  to  do,  and  going  personally  to  every  creditor 
he  asked  for  an  extension  of  time,  which  was  given  him.  He  began 
again,  having  previously  dissolved  his  partnership.  The  Civil  War  broke 
out,  and  his  business  suffered.  Temporarily  he  returned  to  the  manu- 
facture of  pistols.  At  this  time  his  inventive  genius  asserted  itself,  and 
the  crude  invention  made  by  his  father  was  gone  over,  perfected,  and 
suited  to  the  highest  needs  of  fancy  cashmere  weaving.  Mr.  Crompton 
took  out  during  his  lifetime  two  hundred  and  twelve  patents  in  America 
and  foreign  countries. 

Reverses  again  came  to  the  Crompton  Company  during  the  panic  of 
1877,  but  Mr.  Crompton  placed  his  entire  fortune  at  the  disposal  of  the 
firm  during  its  embarrassment.     He  was  devoted  to  the  public  interests 

67 


I.   Stephen  Salisbury,  3rd. 
2.  William  Huntington     3.  Alice  Morse  Earle 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

of  Worcester,  and  served  the  city  in  several  capacities.  His  death  oc- 
curred in  Worcester,  December  29,  1886.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he 
was  the  sole  owner  of  the  Crompton  Loom  Works,  the  largest  employer 
of  labor,  and  the  possessor  of  one  of  the  largest  properties  in  the  city. 
Mr.  Crompton's  exactitude  in  financial  matters  has  been  frequently  the 
subject  of  comment.  "During  his  earlier  business  years,"  says  his 
biographer,  "he  once  found  pay-day  approaching  and  no  funds  to  meet 
it.  He  at  once  started  on  a  collecting  tour.  The  evening  before  pay-day 
found  him  with  money  in  his  pocket,  but  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  Con- 
necticut River,  swollen  with  a  spring  freshet  and  filled  with  large  cakes  of 
ice,  and  no  bridge  in  the  neighborhood  upon  which  to  cross.  He  hunted 
until  he  found  a  boatman  with  a  small  boat,  who  was  willing  to  risk  his 
life  for  an  adequate  compensation,  and  the  two  started  across  the  river. 
It  was  several  hours  before  they  landed  on  the  opposite  shore,  at  a  long 
distance  below  the  starting-point,  and  completely  wet  through,  but  Mr. 
Crompton's  men  were  paid  before  night  on  their  regular  pay-day." 

The  amalgamation  of  the  Crompton  Loom  Works  and  the  Knowles 
Loom  Works  did  not  take  place  until  1897,  when  the  combined  estab- 
lishments were  given  the  name  of  the  Crompton  and  Knowles  Loom 
Works.  Improvements  since  the  granting  of  the  first  patents  to  Messrs. 
Crompton  and  Knowles  had  been  constantly  made,  and  their  names  have 
been  synonymous  with  the  developments  of  the  art  of  weaving  in  America. 
The  corporation  to-day  is  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 


STEPHEN   SALISBURY,  3d 

Philanthropist 
1S35-1905 

Stephen  Salisbury,  3d,  left  almost  the  whole  of  his  large  estate  to 
Worcester.  There  was  scarcely  an  educational  or  charitable  institution 
that  was  not  remembered  by  him.  Out  of  his  estate  valued  at  ^5,000,000 
he  left  ^3,000,000  to  the  Art  Museum;  the  old  Salisbury  estate  was  left 
to  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  with  his  library  and  a  fund  of 
$200,000;  he  remembered  the  Polytechnic  Institute,  Clark  University, 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Harvard  University,  and  the  Soci- 
ety of  Antiquity.  Salisbury  Pond  surrounded  by  Institute  Park  remains 
a  beautiful  memorial  of  the  benefactor  of  Worcester. 

Mr.  Salisbury  was  the  third  to  bear  that  name.  The  first  Stephen 
Salisbury,  of  the  commercial  house  of  Samuel  and  Stephen  Salisbury,  was 
a  leading  importer  of  Boston.  He  came  to  Worcester  shortly  before  the 
Revolution,  and  in  1772  built  on  Lincoln  Square  the  house  to-day  known 
as  the  old  Salisbury  Mansion.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs 
of  the  town.  His  son,  Stephen  Salisbury,  2d,  built  a  mansion  on  High- 
land Street,  and,  like  his  distinguished  father,  was  interested  in  every- 
thing that  pertained  to  the  welfare  of  Worcester.  He  served  as  president 
of  the  Old  Worcester  Bank  until  1884,  when  his  son,  Stephen  Salisbury, 
3d,  succeeded  him,  holding  that  office  until  his  death.  Stephen  Salis- 
bury, 3d,  was  the  last  of  his  family. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Worcester,  March  31,  1835.  He 
was  graduated  from  Harvard  University  in  the  class  of  1856  and  shortly 
afterwards  went  to  Europe,  where  he  studied  at  various  universities  for 
two  years.     In   1858  he  returned   to  Worcester  and   studied  law,   later 

m 


FORTY   IMAIORTALS  of  WORCESTER    &    ITS    COUNTY 

attending  the  Harvard  Law  School,  where  in  1861  he  was  given  the  de- 
gree of  LL.B.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  October  of  that  year. 
Mr.  Salisbury's  wealth  made  it  possible  for  him  to  devote  much  time  to 
special  subjects  that  commanded  his  interest,  and  throughout  his  long 
and  active  life  he  made  special  research  and  travelled  extensively  in 
search  of  information  that  he  desired.  With  his  large  and  varied  inter- 
ests he  constantly  had  the  welfare  of  Worcester  in  mind.  In  1863  he 
became  a  director  of  the  State  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company;  he 
served  as  a  director  of  the  Old  Worcester  Bank  prior  to  his  election  to 
the  presidency;  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  investment  and 
later  as  president  of  the  Worcester  County  Institution  for  Savings — an 
institution  of  which  his  father  had  been  president.  He  was  a  director 
of  the  Worcester,  Nashua  and  Rochester,  and  of  the  Boston,  Barre  and 
Gardner  railroads  until  their  absorption  by  the  Boston  and  Maine  and 
the  Fitchburg  Companies.  He  was  a  trustee  of  the  Worcester  City 
Hospital  and  of  the  Washburn  Memorial  Hospital.  His  connection  with 
the  Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute  is  well  known,  as  is  that  of  the  elder 
Salisbury,  who  was  interested  in  the  founding  of  the  institution  and  who 
served  as  its  first  president.  Clark  University  also  commanded  the 
interest  of  father  and  son.  Mr.  Salisbury  was  a  member  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society  and  its  president  from  1887  until  his  death.  To 
the  transactions  of  the  Society  he  contributed  many  valuable  papers  re- 
lating to  his  researches  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  American  Geographic  Society,  president  of  the  Peabody  Museum 
of  Archaeology  and  Ethnology  at  Cambridge,  a  member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society,  and  of  many  foreign  societies.  He  served 
his  city  and  the  Commonwealth  in  innumerable  ways.  In  spite  of  his 
large  fortune  he  lived  simply,  and  was  ever  the  modest  courtly  gentleman, 
who  deferred  to  the  opinions  of  others  and  treated  his  associates  with 
the  kindest  attention.  The  difficult  role  assigned  to  him  he  played  wxll, 
and  the  beneficence  that  he  bestowed  on  Worcester  was  always  given 
without  ostentation. 

"Calm;  reserved;  equable  in  temperament;  not  over-confident  in 
himself,  yet  not  easily  swerved  from  an  opinion  which  he  conceived  to 
be  well  founded;  courteous  in  bearing;  dignified  in  deportment;  never 
self-asserting  and  never  acting  with  a  view  to  secure  popular  approval; 
loyal  in  friendship,  but  not  demonstrative;  Stephen  Salisbury  passed 
through  life  making  hosts  of  friends,  among  whom  there  were  but  few, 
however,  who  could  claim  that  this  friendship  was  intimate."  This  is 
but  one  tribute  to  Stephen  Salisbury. 

Mr.  Salisbury's  death  occurred  in  Worcester  on  November  16,  1905, 
in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age. 


WILLIAM   REED   HUNTINGTON 

Episcopal  Clergyman 

iS  ^S'   IlXKJ 

William  Reed  lluiuington  was  born  in  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  Sep- 
tember 20,  1838.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  Liniversity  in  1859, 
and  after  serving  as  assistant  rector  at  Emmanuel  Church  in  Boston, 
came  to  Worcester  in  1862  where  he  was  ordained.  All  Saints'  of  which 
he  became  rector  was  then  a  small  parish,  but  under  the  guidance  of  the 

70 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &   ITS    COUNTY 

enthusiastic  young  rector  it  increased  in  size  and  influence.  He  attracted 
attention  abroad,  but  call  after  call  was  declined,  and  he  still  continued 
to  set  himself  to  the  task  that  he  had  resolved  to  do,  namely,  to 
establish  All  Saints'  Church  on  a  firm  basis,  and  to  surround  it  by  four 
other  churches:  St.  Matthew's,  St.  Mark's,  St.  Luke's,  and  St.  John's. 

"This,"  says  his  biographer,  "was  his  dream,  a  hopeless  one  it  then 
seemed,  especially  when  the  little  wooden  church  of  All  Saints'  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  But  nothing  could  weaken  his  energy  and  he  at  once 
set  himself  to  the  work  of  building  the  new  All  Saints'  as  it  is  to-day. 
In  spite  of  the  anxiety  of  building  without  sufficient  funds  his  spirit  and 
energy  never  seemed  to  fail."  His  love  for  Worcester  has  been  frequently 
the  subject  of  comment.  Indeed,  he  once  said  that  its  attractions  lay 
not  alone  in  the  literary  or  social  life,  but  in  the  natural  beauty  of  the 
surroundings — a  miniature  New  England,  as  it  were,  where  every  kind  of 
character  might  be  found,  and  where  conditions  were  such  that  every 
kind  of  problem  might  be  worked  out. 

St.  Matthew's,  St.  Mark's,  St.  Luke's,  and  St.  John's,  as  though  in  a 
realization  of  Dr.  Huntington's  dream,  grew  up  around  All  Saints'.  Dr. 
Huntington's  work  called  him,  after  a  year  of  travel,  to  Grace  Church 
in  New  York  City.  Here  he  became  rector  in  1883,  succeeding  Bishop 
Potter,  in  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  parishes  of  New  York. 
During  his  incumbency  the  charitable  work  done  in  the  parish  was  greatly 
increased,  a  mission  house  and  deaconesses'  home  were  built,  and  the 
group  of  buildings  called  Grace  Chapel  Settlement  was  erected.  Dr. 
Huntington  also  devoted  many  years  to  the  movement  for  the  liturgical 
revision  that  resulted  in  the  Standard  Prayer  Book  published  in  1892. 
Many  honors  came  to  him.  He  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  Colum- 
bia, Princeton,  Harvard,  and  Yale  Universities;  D.C.L.  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  the  South;  L.H.D.  from  Hobart  College;  and  LL.D.  from  Union 
College. 

Dr.  Huntington  never  forgot  his  Worcester  associates,  and  one  of  his 
last  messages  concerned  them.  "Give  a  special  message  of  good-bye," 
he  said,  "to  my  dear  friends  at  Worcester,  and  let  every  attention  be  paid 
to  them  at  my  funeral  service."  His  death  occurred  July  26,  1909,  at 
Nahant,  Massachusetts. 


ALICE   MORSE   EARLE 

Author 

iS^T-TQTT 

The  tithingman  of  the  Puritan  New  England  Sabbath  plays  an  impor- 
tant part  in  the  literary  career  of  Alice  Morse  Earle,  for  he  was  the  sub- 
ject of  her  first  story.  Much  of  the  information  that  she  gleaned  con- 
cerning him  was  given  by  her  father,  who  was  wont  in  the  family  circle 
to  recall  the  offices  of  this  Puritan  dignitary,  who  had  presided  over  the 
congregation  even  in  Mr.  Morse's  boyhood.  Alice  Morse  was  born 
April  27,  1 85 1.  After  having  been  graduated  from  the  Worcester  High 
School  and  Dr.  Gannett's  School  in  Boston,  she  returned  to  her  home  in 
Worcester,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  married  Henry  Earle  of  Brooklyn, 
New  York.     Of  Mrs.  Earle's  four  children,  three  survive  her.     Her  sister, 

71 


FORTY   IMMORTALS  of  WORCESTER   &    ITS    COUNTY 

Miss  Frances  Clary  Morse,  well-known  collector,  and  author  of  "Furni- 
ture of  the  Olden  Time,"  resides  at  the  Morse  home  in  Worcester. 

After  one  of  Airs.  Earle's  frequent  talks  with  her  father  concerning 
early  New  England  customs,  she  wrote  her  first  story,  "The  Sabbath  in 
Puritan  New  England."  Without  the  knowledge  of  her  family  she  sent 
the  story  to  the  Youth's  Companion,  and  almost  immediately  received  a 
substantial  check  for  it.  After  its  publication  she  enlarged  on  the  sub- 
ject, sent  her  new  story  to  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  and  received  a  check  for 
^loo.  Once  more  Mrs.  Earle  enlarged  on  her  subject,  and  in  1891  sent 
her  first  book  ("The  Sabbath  in  Puritan  New  England")  to  Scribner's 
where  it  was  accepted,  published,  and  had  the  largest  sale  of  any  book 
published  that  year.  All  of  these  efforts  Mrs.  Earle  made  on  her  own 
behalf.  She  was  a  pioneer  in  the  study  of  social  and  domestic  life  in 
Colonial  New  England.  She  was  one  who  carefully  blazed  her  trail  and 
who  did  an  enormous  amount  of  research  work  in  the  preparation  of  each 
volume.  A  complete  list  of  her  works  may  be  of  interest  from  both  a 
reader's  and  a  collector's  viewpoint,  especially  in  so  far  as  the  writer 
knows  of  no  such  published  list,  those  that  have  appeared  being  more  or 
less  incomplete:  "The  Sabbath  in  Puritan  New  England"  (1891), 
"China-collecting  in  America"  (1892),  "Customs  and  Fashions  in  Old 
New  England"  (1893),  "Diary  of  a  Boston  School  Girl,"  written  by 
Anna  Green  Winslow,  edited  by  Mrs.  Earle  (1894),  "Costume  of  Colonial 
Times"  (1894),  "Margaret  Winthrop"  (1895),  "Colonial  Dames  and 
Good-Wives"  (1895),  "Curious  Punishments  of  Bygone  Days"  (1896), 
"Colonial  Days  in  Old  New  York"  (1896),  "In  Old  Narragansett" 
(1896),  "Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days"  (1898),  "Child  Life  in  Colonial 
Days"  (1899),  "Stage  Coach  and  Tavern  Days"  (1900),  "Old-time 
Gardens"  (1902),  "Sun  Dials  and  Roses  of  Yesterday"  (1902),  "Two 
Centuries  of  Costume  in  America"  (1903),  "Essay  on  Modern  Garden- 
ing," by  Horace  Walpole,  edited  with  introductory  note  by  Mrs.  Earle 
(1904). 

Mrs.  Earle  and  her  sister  Miss  Morse  on  their  third  trip  to  Egypt  in 
1909  were  passengers  on  the  Republic  when  it  was  cut  in  two  in  January 
of  that  year.  Owing  to  the  shock  sustained  from  the  wreck,  Mrs.  Earle 
suffered  a  nervous  breakdown.  Her  death  occurred  on  Long  Island, 
February  16,  191 1.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  her  loveliest  book  is 
"Old-time  Gardens,"  which  contains  such  attractive  chapter-heads  as 
"Colonial  Garden-making,"  "In  Lilac  Time,"  "Old  Flower  Favorites," 
"The  Charm  of  Color,"  "Meetin'  Seed  and  Sabbath  Day  Posies,"  "Sun- 
dials," "A  Moonlight  Garden,"  "Flowers  of  Mystery  and  Roses  of  Yes- 
terday." 


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^^'^ss.'t 


